No shortage of ways to shut citizens out
The Canton Repository
PLAIN TWP - Some weeks are better than others for Stark County citizens who want to know how their government operates. This has not been a good week, judging by these developments:
• You might assume that a public hearing actively involves the public, but don’t assume.
County Health Commissioner William Franks has asked his board to schedule a public hearing on the future of the Countywide landfill immediately after the board’s May 9 meeting. Franks has to hold a hearing only if he plans to recommend that Countywide’s operating license be yanked. But because he says he hasn’t made up his mind, he wants to schedule a hearing in any event.
People have been waiting for a chance to speak to the board, in hopes of getting questions answered and persuading board members before they act. They haven’t had this opportunity yet because Stark County Assistant Prosecutor Deborah Dawson, likening the health board to a jury, told board members it would be inappropriate for them to hear from the public before the hearing.
Now that the hearing is scheduled — in late morning, which is convenient for the officials but perhaps not for interested citizens who work — these people still have no assurance that they can speak. Representatives of the landfill owner, Republic Services, will be permitted to make their case. What of the residents who have had to live with the stench emanating from the Pike Township facility for more than a year? They may speak only if Franks calls them as witnesses.
In addition, Franks, for reasons he won’t explain, wants to see the financial records of Club 3000, the nonprofit environmental group these citizens formed. This group is so small that not even the Internal Revenue Service cares to know where its money comes from, so it is not clear that Franks is legally entitled to the information.
This is quite a one-way street: an unexplained demand from a public official for information from citizens who may or may not be allowed to participate in a public hearing.
• Meanwhile, in North Canton, where City Council just joined most of its area counterparts in putting a stopwatch to residents’ remarks during meetings, council has kept alive by only one vote a plan to let residents monitor the city’s water system. Jon Synder, one of three members who opposes the idea, has said it’s too risky to let North Canton residents — residents who aren’t in city government, that is — to see detailed information about the water wells and treatment facilities. He is, he says, worried about terrorism.
You might want to know precisely what, in Synder’s mind, North Canton citizens have to do with terrorism. But as of Thursday, the city had not posted on its Web site the minutes of any council meeting more recent than March 12.
Clearly there’s no shortage of ways government can keep its distance from the people it serves, and in Stark County recently, no shortage of interest in doing so. Do you suppose it’s something in the water?
PLAIN TWP - Some weeks are better than others for Stark County citizens who want to know how their government operates. This has not been a good week, judging by these developments:
• You might assume that a public hearing actively involves the public, but don’t assume.
County Health Commissioner William Franks has asked his board to schedule a public hearing on the future of the Countywide landfill immediately after the board’s May 9 meeting. Franks has to hold a hearing only if he plans to recommend that Countywide’s operating license be yanked. But because he says he hasn’t made up his mind, he wants to schedule a hearing in any event.
People have been waiting for a chance to speak to the board, in hopes of getting questions answered and persuading board members before they act. They haven’t had this opportunity yet because Stark County Assistant Prosecutor Deborah Dawson, likening the health board to a jury, told board members it would be inappropriate for them to hear from the public before the hearing.
Now that the hearing is scheduled — in late morning, which is convenient for the officials but perhaps not for interested citizens who work — these people still have no assurance that they can speak. Representatives of the landfill owner, Republic Services, will be permitted to make their case. What of the residents who have had to live with the stench emanating from the Pike Township facility for more than a year? They may speak only if Franks calls them as witnesses.
In addition, Franks, for reasons he won’t explain, wants to see the financial records of Club 3000, the nonprofit environmental group these citizens formed. This group is so small that not even the Internal Revenue Service cares to know where its money comes from, so it is not clear that Franks is legally entitled to the information.
This is quite a one-way street: an unexplained demand from a public official for information from citizens who may or may not be allowed to participate in a public hearing.
• Meanwhile, in North Canton, where City Council just joined most of its area counterparts in putting a stopwatch to residents’ remarks during meetings, council has kept alive by only one vote a plan to let residents monitor the city’s water system. Jon Synder, one of three members who opposes the idea, has said it’s too risky to let North Canton residents — residents who aren’t in city government, that is — to see detailed information about the water wells and treatment facilities. He is, he says, worried about terrorism.
You might want to know precisely what, in Synder’s mind, North Canton citizens have to do with terrorism. But as of Thursday, the city had not posted on its Web site the minutes of any council meeting more recent than March 12.
Clearly there’s no shortage of ways government can keep its distance from the people it serves, and in Stark County recently, no shortage of interest in doing so. Do you suppose it’s something in the water?
