Transparency and Accountability (Both, Apparently, Are Novel Ideas)

The Frank Denzinger FOP Lodge and Lee Deich Memorial FOP Lodge co-sponsored a candidate meet and greet last night. They were the first group capable of pulling both parties together for an event, and I am glad someone was finally able to do this. Before I begin telling you about what I proposed for the county during this session, I would like to thank both lodges for hosting this event.

Although I was nervous about speaking in front of a crowd, I felt what I had to offer was important enough that I should overcome my fears--I used a self-deprecating fat joke to break the ice and loosen me up, too. Afterwards, I introduced some of my plans to make the Floyd County government more transparent and accountable--apparently these are novel ideas right now.

The first thing I would like to do is work with the other members of the County Council, the Treasurer and the IT employee to make the Floyd County budget and appropriations available to the public online. This one step helps us achieve both of the aforementioned goals--transparency and accountability. By making the budget and appropriations available online, the Floyd County government suddenly becomes much more transparent. This newfound transparency would make the government more accountable for the tax dollars that are spent.

The next idea that I offered was something that I have mentioned in passing on this blog, but I expounded upon the idea. I would like to institute an inter- and intradepartmental review of expenditures which would bring even more accountability to our local government.

The interdepartmental review would be used if one department noticed that another department was wasting tax dollars. The department that noticed the infraction could then report the offending party without fear of reprisal and the offending party would have to explain the expenses in question to the council.

The intradepartmental review would be used if someone in the department notices wasteful spending; they could notify the council of this wasteful spending anonymously and without fear of retaliation from coworkers or superiors. The offending department would then have to explain the expenses in question to the council.

I hope that after reading this you feel that am offering solutions to problems in this county and you will consider voting for me on November 4th. Thus far, I am the only County Council candidate to offer reasonable solutions to the real problems facing this county. Feel free to let me know what you think about my proposals. Meanwhile, I will continue to work to improve the situation in this county.