HAS THE BUSINESS OF THE OLDHAM COUNTY FISCAL COURT BECOME MORE TRANSPARENT OR MORE SECRETIVE?

During the first nine months of 2008 the Oldham County Fiscal Court went into “closed session” seven times. After their last closed session in September, Magistrate Scott Davis alleged that the closed session of September 16, 2008 was illegal. Since that time there have been no closed sessions.

I immediately begin to ask myself why there no longer seems to be a need for those back room meetings outside the reach of the public. In the past most of the meetings have been alleged to have been necessary due to personnel matters or the acquisition of land. I know that the county has been involved in litigation since September but now there is apparently no need to discuss it secretly. Perhaps it is being discussed secretly among certain privileged people. It is possible that the lawsuit filed by Magistrate Scott Davis has really driven the Fiscal Court underground. Hopefully that it is not the case and it has made the court more transparent.

I certainly believe in open government. After all, the people own the government and they just hire the politicians and the other employees to manage the government. Obviously there are times when government cannot be entirely open. Most prudent people easily understand those situations and do not have a problem with them. On the other hand, too many secret meetings begin to raise eyebrows. Let us hope that the recent decline of closed sessions is a result of someone’s decision to have a more open government rather than a decision by someone to just have closed sessions without telling the public and selected magistrates.