The other day the Midland Reporter Telegram was patting itself on the back for doing some investigative work in the form of open records requests aimed at our local government.
While it's tempting to say, "better late than never," we won't go there. Instead let's congratulate them and encourage them to keep it up. We've needed a watchdog to keep an eye on the goings on behind the government doors for a long time. And now that we've got a mayor who beat the newspaper endorsed candidate, maybe we'll get one.
While they're at it, may I suggest doing a few open records requests about that proposed skyscraper that's planned for the old court house square? Many citizens were amazed at how that project seemed to come out of the blue, however all the elected officials seemed to have already made up their minds. Were there any secret meetings that should have be subject to the open meetings laws?
Were there any emails or other correspondence among the elected officials or between the elected officials and the building promoters that the public should see? By the way, if some elected official discussed the project on his private email account it was still city business and should be subject to an open records request.
Make us proud, MRT.com, make us proud.
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