Maybe we citizens need to hear the rest of the story —Barbara Stratton

Received today on Ashley Paulk is a big man again:
Ref comments by outof control – This is definitely confusing. I don’t see anything in the controversy about contracts being put out to bid. Isn’t the fact an electrical company owned by one of the board members was contracted to do work on a government project illegal conflict of interest? It appears to me that someone needs to come in & educate all the government entities (elected & appointed)& the public in Lowndes Co on what conflict of interest means.

I have seen several incidents in government meetings where an elected or appointed individual excused himself from voting because of an admitted COI. How does that excuse the COI when COI also includes impaired objectivity, unequal access to information, etc. Basically if there is any connection between a government elected or appointed official & a private company contractual relationships of any kind come under COI & are not supposed to be allowed even if a bid process takes place.

That is another reason why citizens should not allow public/private partnerships. Normal bidding procedures are ignored

when a private company is chosen, eliminating equal competition and then the private company gets to claim proprietary non-disclosure rights under which layers of conflict of interst can be hidden forever. Tax monies that are designated for government only use can be funneled into the private company via pass through entities & other end around tactics. Once they get into the private business acountability dissolves into the propriatary protection.

Black Crow tends to be vocal about controversial issues, but they also usually allow equal guest voicing of all opinions so that we the public get access to more facts than other media sources think we are entitled to. Maybe that is why the Black Crow name got drawn into this issue which should have been an internal personnel issue within the context of the Authority meetng. Therein lies a lot of the confusion.

By the way did Black Crow enter their direct link onto the Parks & Recreation Authority website under Other Sites That We Recommend or was that also an internal personnel choice? The link has now been removed, but I have a hard copy showing that it was listed there on 06/01/2011. Maybe we citizens need to hear the rest of the story of this stormy relationship.

-Barbara Stratton