Government of the People, For the People | Eastern North Carolina Now

    "Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln stood on a makeshift platform at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and spoke these famous words. Note he did not say government dictates to the people, for the people.

    As citizens of Washington we should heed Abraham Lincoln's words as we approach how we view the transparency of our City government. Many may not be aware, but in the past any Council Member and even any citizen could put an item of import on the agenda for City Council meetings. This is not the case any more. The policy has changed that only a handful of people control the agenda for meetings, limiting public input and the discussion of ideas. On top of that meetings have been shortened to no more than 45 minutes in most cases. This limits inquiry into what the city is doing, how they operating and what input comes from citizens. Council Members William Pitt and Bobby Roberson have been pushing for more transparency including longer meetings, longer community input sessions and allowing any Council Member to add items to the agenda.

    I support the proposals of Council Members William Pitt and Bobby Roberson to extend the time of each Council Meeting to allow for adequate debate and discussion of important issues instead of rushing through meetings and voting without substantive discussions.

    We should not be rubber stamping plans nor passing budgets without knowing the details fully and more importantly hearing from ALL citizens regardless of socio-economic status, sexual orientation, racial grouping or political affiliation.

    City Government works for us not the other way around. Kudos to both Bobby Roberson and William Pitt for advocating transparency in City Government and I welcome the other members of the City Council to state their opinions on the issue.

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