Dear Editor,
The three new commissioners promised government transparency. I’m not sure we’re getting the transparency they were talking about, but we sure are seeing lots of transparency when it comes to their motives. Here’s an example.
The three newbies announced that the BOCC Resolution 1244 from November of 2001, approved unanimously by Jack Atthowe, Allan Thompson and “Smut” Warren, needed to be redone because it included provisions regarding the establishment and operation of the Airport Advisory Board which were embedded with provisions relating to other airport matters; the newbies said that Airport Advisory Board provisions really needed to be stated separately, in a separate BOCC resolution. So
the Commission unveiled the new resolution to solve this problem, Resolution 2676. At the unveiling meeting on Friday, April 29 at 2:30, there was quite a bit of public comment on the new resolution, most of it in opposition, and in opposition because the new resolution replaced Resolution 1244 entirely and all of its provisions, even those not in any way related to the Airport Advisory Board.
The most significant of all those provisions was the one guaranteeing to the citizens the right to vote on acceptance of any enlargement of the Hamilton Airport. At the meeting, a suggestion was made that the Commissioners could resolve all the objections simply by changing the wording in the new resolution from replacement of Resolution 1244 to wording which would replace only those provisions of 1244 relating to the Airport Advisory Board; thus the newbies would accomplish their stated objective: removing from 1244 those provisions properly belonging in a separate resolution.
The suggestion was totally ignored. As public discussion continued, the picture became complete. The newbies (except for Commissioner Kannenwisher who was not present) stated their intention to enlarge the Airport by adopting Plan 3A and discarding the approved plan 2A. In other words, the announced need to separate the Airport Advisory Board provisions from the other provisions of Resolution 1244 was simply a ruse to get rid entirely of that resolution, including the right of the citizens to have any vote at all in the matter of enlargement of the airport. It is now evident that “the emperor wears no clothes”, and it is not a pretty sight to behold. Nor is the obvious transparency (might we call it outright deceit?) of the new commissioners.
Chuck Roubik
Hamilton