Westfield reader details problem of transparency with City Council

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Dear Editor,

It seems to me that I must be confused about the term transparency in government.

The current Westfield city council members ran their election campaigns asking for more transparency.  Yet, several times since being installed as councilors, they have again changed the city council meeting agenda with last-minute items without proper notification for a public meeting.

On Monday, March 22, when I reviewed the agenda around 3 p.m., there was nothing on it to be further researched. Arriving at City Hall, I find the agenda has three items added. There were two Resolutions and one Ordinance. The resolutions appeared to be full of accusations and innuendo pointed at the current city administration and its appointees without providing any substance to support them.

The Ordinance was titled, “Ordinance 21-21: An Ordinance of the Common Council of the City of Westfield.” There was no available documentation at that point in time to review and to study their proposed ordinance. As it turns out, this ordinance was written to terminate the State Road 32 project in Downtown Westfield. I had never heard of it before that meeting.

Therefore, transparency to this City Council means an agreed upon and published meeting agenda can be changed, without announcement and publication, voted upon without providing Westfield citizens time for input, and made law at the council’s convenience.

Thus, my confusion exists because, to me, this does not seem to meet the definition of transparency.

So, I ask my fellow citizens of Westfield, what say you?

Ron Moore

Westfield

4 Comments on "Westfield reader details problem of transparency with City Council"

  1. Troy Patton | March 26, 2021 at 9:39 am |

    Pay no attention to the little man behind the curtain. Ron Moore is nothing more than Rachel Maddow with a pen. This is the same guy who cut me off during the primaries when we had two minutes to speak at an open house. I was cut off at 50 seconds. Then he let Jim Ake speak for four as he chastised me that others need to speak.

    ALL TAXPAYERS – if you want to learn for yourself why they were added listen to the last part of the meeting in open comments and judge for yourself. Don’t take my word or his, listen for yourself and judge. This same group will tell you over and over and hope you believe them if they tell you enough.

  2. I don’t need to take his word for it. I am seeing the devious and it respectable nature of the new City Council members with my own eyes and ears. It seems to me that self serving egos are the rule of the day for them.

  3. Cliff Bradley | March 30, 2021 at 9:32 am |

    It has and probably always will be self-serving to their investment schemes. Follow the money, it falls from their pockets and lackies are there to suck it up.

  4. Let the chips fall where they should Ron. You conveniently totally left out the fact that the topics were introduced to the City Admin prior to the Council Meeting and they were not included as an oversight by the administration via the legal council.

Comments are closed.