Category Archives: Transparency

Thanks for Susan Wehling’s email –Ashley Paulk

Chairman Paulk says he got a very good email from Susan Wehling, who said she could not be here tonight.


Video by Gretchen Quarterman
of the regular meeting of the Lowndes County Commission, 25 Jan 2011
for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

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Transparency and celebrating citizen participation –John S. Quarterman

I thank County Clerk Paige Dukes for making the text of the new Policies and Procedures available, and refer it to as as sterling example of local government transparency. Then I remark that I can’t be quite as complimentary about their content, which is in some parts too vague and in others too strict. I offer to provide written comments. And in my personal opinion local government should not suppress but rather celebrate citizen participation!


Video by Gretchen Quarterman
of the regular meeting of the Lowndes County Commission, 25 Jan 2011
for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Since at least one commissioner did ask for them, I sent them the written comments yesterday; they will follow in a separate post.

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Open your eyes, you can fly! –Lizz Wright

To all those who say “there’s nothing you can do”, I prefer what Lizz Wright sings:
Have the courage to be free
Open your eyes, you can fly!

Lizz Wright is a jazz singer and composer from Hahira, Georgia. You may have seen her on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Here’s that clip of Jay Leno welcoming “critically acclaimed singer” Lizz Wright on 24 Jan 2011; she sings:

I’ve really got to use my imagination
Got to make the best of a bad situation
Topical words for our situation.

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“The road of respect goes both ways” –Matt Flumerfelt

Matt Flumerfelt compliments the commission on the good reception he’s gotten previously and objects to the item in the new rules about the commission being able to close subjects. He notes there is always resort to the law, but he hopes things won’t come to that. He concludes:
“The road of respect goes both ways.”


Video by Gretchen Quarterman
of the regular meeting of the Lowndes County Commission, 25 Jan 2011
for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

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“I’m here every morning” –Ashley Paulk

You could hear this after Matt Flumerfelt spoke in the previous post, but let’s pull it out separately here. This is Ashley Paulk recommending that people come in and talk to their commissioners, and he says:
“I’m here every morning.”


Video by John S. Quarterman
of the regular meeting of the Lowndes County Commission, 25 Jan 2011
for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

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“The road of respect goes both ways” –Matt Flumerfelt

Matt Flumerfelt compliments the commission on the good reception he’s gotten previously and objects to the item in the new rules about the commission being able to close subjects. He notes there is always resort to the law, but he hopes things won’t come to that. He concludes:
“The road of respect goes both ways.”


Video by Gretchen Quarterman
of the regular meeting of the Lowndes County Commission, 25 Jan 2011
for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

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Dialog and something new –Gretchen Quarterman

Gretchen Quarterman applauds Chairman Paulk for increasing the transparency of the government in the last few years, then says:
I’m concerned that a barrier to dialog is getting higher, rather than lower. When the citizens make the effort to come to a meeting after a long day of work, or maybe they come in the morning when they don’t actually get to talk, it’s important for them to get a chance to be heard.
She describes how the Zoning Board of Appeals (on which she is a county appointee) does it:
When you’re done saying stuff new, then everybody else that has something to say, they just raise their hand.
And her main point:
I’d like to sort of suggest that hou have some dialog about this resolution that you just made. Maybe it could be modified so that people could continue to come, rather than three people could come.


Video by John S. Quarterman
of the regular meeting of the Lowndes County Commission, 25 Jan 2011
for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

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Content-neutral procedures good, economic obsolesence bad –Leigh Touchton

First citizen to speak after adoption of the new rules was Leigh Touchton, President of the local NAACP. She noted NAACP promotes equality for all and Dr. Noll is a member of NAACP (see Paulk interrogates Noll for context). She thanked the board for adopting content-neutral procedures, but said she has asked NAACP for legal review of them. Then she discussed economic obsolescence, as in when a nuisance moves into a community, property values go down.


Video by Gretchen Quarterman
of the regular meeting of the Lowndes County Commission, 25 Jan 2011
for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

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New Policies and Procedures: Citizens Wishing to be Heard

The Lowndes County Commission Tuesday voted in and Chairman Paulk announced new Policies and Procedures for Citizens Wishing to Be Heard


Videos by Gretchen Quarterman
of the regular meeting of the Lowndes County Commission, 25 Jan 2011
for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Interestingly, since the Commission rushed through these new rules after the last meeting, there was no time to completely implement them, so the first thing the Chairman did was to set them aside for this meeting.

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Meeting video “increasingly popular” –AJC

Patrick Fox writes in the AJC, 18 Jan 2011, Meeting access video grows among city councils:
Metro Atlanta cities want to air their business in living rooms. Alpharetta agreed to spend $68,000 for a video recording system in its council chambers. Dunwoody will shell out $93,000 for a digital video recording system, enabling residents to view city council and planning commission meetings live from home.

While not every city electronically records its council meetings, the practice has become increasingly popular.

“It’s an overall trend of cities, going where people are to share information, to keep people in touch,” said Amy Henderson, Georgia Municipal Association spokeswoman.

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