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From behind the Curtain
What I found out...
Part One:
“What we have here is a failure
to communicate... ”
For the eight months that I was working
on the Overview Commission, 1 took a leave
of absence from writing about issues facing the
unified government in the pages of Fhgpole.
During that time, 1 gained new insights into
our local government and the issues facing it
and our community. The Overview Commis
sion Report is finished, and the time has come
to talk about what I found out while doing
gub’ment work.
The Big Picture
First, the sound bite — Unification is work
ing. It is (and was) the best choice that this
community could have made. Athens-Clarke
County is ready to face the next century with
a better decision-making infrastructure than
any other county in the state.
As a result of Unification, every ordinance,
policy and program of the two former govern
ments was re-examined. Some were kept in
tact and others were revised, rewritten or re
placed. The process was not (and sometimes
still isn’t) pretty, but it has worked. As each
area of the local government is examined, it
improves. The list of accomplishments of the
unified government far outweighs the list of
problems, but most folks wouldn’t know that.
It seems all we hear about the unified govern
ment is the crisis (or conflict) du jour.
And there always is a conflict (and there
always will be). While Unification is working,
it's still a long way from perfect. There are prob
lems — some small, some large, and others that
cast a shadow over the entire government. The
two big ones are — communication and ac
countability.
Communication
Good news makes lousy copy. The govern
ment becomes part of daily discussions among
average folks when it is involved in some “con
flict." I sualiy, it’s about some policy or deci
sion that seems to be (as Jim Holland used to
say), a “done deal.” On one side, you have the
government (or some part of it) and on the
other side is some group that feels that they
were left out of the “decision-making process."
When this happens, folks within the govern
ment often scratch their heads — because they
remember a long series of announced public
meetings that formed the policy that is now at
the center of controversy.
The unified government is better at com
munication than either of the two former gov
ernments were. Times, dates and locations of
I SAW A PERSON OF FOREIGN I
ANCESTRY BO SOMETHING
FOOLISH IN TRAFFIC To DAT.'
WHAT AN OUTRAGE!
WE SHOULD JUST
CLOSE THE BORDERS'.
meetings and openings for appointments are
announced. The basics are covered, but be
yond those basics, this government does a ter
rible job of communicating what it is doing
(background info, accomplishments, choices,
programs, opportunities, etc.) to the citizens
of Athens-Clarke County.
TheTe is not a designated source of infor
mation within the government. Each official,
department, division, program or event tries
to promote and communicate what they are
doing independent of the rest of the govern
ment. It is wasteful in terms of work hours,
money and efficient communication. Impor
tant information is lost in the jumble of ef
forts. Some efforts work; others don’t
Useful information about an issue is hard
to find. Records are kept in a variety of loca
tions. Background information about an issue
(such as who it will affect, what are the risks,
the benefits, etc.) isn’t easily found. Rumors
are easier to find than facts. — l —
Because of their availability,
those rumors often show up as
facts in the local media. This
lack of information makes it
hard for the general public (or
the media) to participate in, or
understand what is happening
at the meetings that form fu
ture policy decisions.
Average citizens don’t get
involved, because they don’t
know which meeting is impor
tant or what is at stake. That
is especially true for citizens
who are poor or members of
groups that have been tradi
tionally discriminated against
in this town. And yet, there
are some citizens who do take
the time to participate in these
policy-forming meetings.
Poor government commu
nication has helped to create
and maintain a small group of
well-informed activists who tend to show up
again and again at every important meeting.
They are liberals, conservatives, developers,
neighborhood activists, environmentalists and
so onr. Whatever their point of view, they all
share a common goal — lobbying the govern
ment to make policy decisions that help their
cause (and in some cases, their bank balance).
For the most part, these are well-meaning folks.
They take the time to get involved and to try
and solve problems, and we cannot have good
government without citizen involvement.
So this group of activists speaks for all the
rest of us who do not pay attention. Their views
are taken as “citizen input.” A policy formed
to satisfy those views often is in conflict with
the views of some group that wasn’t at the
meetings. Protests are held, folks get organized,
and before you know it — there is a new group
of activists lobbying the government.
These activists form organizations to pro
tect, promote and develop some policy or pro
gram. They are as diverse as the Athens Busi
ness Council, Friends of the A-CC Library,
Safe Campuses Now, the Lyndon House Arts
Foundation and so on. All of these groups are
an important part of the process of citizen in
volvement. There are dozens of these groups
in Athens-Clarke County. New ones arc
formed every time a big conflict arises at the
end of the decision-making process. Members
of these groups support candidates for office,
attend meetings, influence the press, raise
alarms, organize opposition or support for some
policy and apply to serve and are appointed to
serve on various boards, authorities and com
missions (BACs). All of this activity helps to
create layers of quasi-government entities,
none of which are accountable to the man
agement, elected officials or to the citizens of
Athens-Clarke County.
Accountability
There are vast areas of the local govern
ment that operate outside of the control of the
THIS M«»MU W#ILB
I SAW SOMETHING ON TV
A300T SOMEBODY WHO WAS
ABUSING THE WELFARE SYS
TEM !
[THAT'S INFuRiATiNG'.
irs clearly time
to dismantle the
EUVRE SOCIAL
1 SAFETY NET!
other for every error, crisis or problem.
The relationship of the unified government
to BACs is even more confused. During the
Overview process, nobody in the government
had a complete list of them. Eventually we
found 35 BACs but I wouldn’t be surprised if
we missed a couple. Even with a list, it is hard
to know how each BAC relates to the unified
government. Every one is different. Most are
not covered by any ethics laws, even though
they set policy, award contracts and engage in
other decision-making activities. Their actions
are not directly accountable to citizens. We
have to trust that all of these BACs arc work
ing in the best interests of all of the citizens,
all of the time. When the shit hits the fan, we
blame the A-CC manager and our elected of
ficials. They point to the actions of some BAC
and — presto — accountability is defused.
The layers of government create a “blame
game” that does not solve problems. It also frus
trates and confuses citizens who just want to
know who is in charge and who will be re
sponsible.
Add to this mix those non-profit groups
formed around some issue to lobby the gov-
ernment and the madness
that is the Clarke County
School Board, and you have
layer after layer of quasi and
real government entities af
fecting and creating policy.
by TOM TOMORROW
I READ that AMERICANS ARE
SO Astonishingly ILL- IN
FORMED that MO'- OF those
POLl ED RECENTLY BY THE
WASHINGTON POST COULD NOT
WAME THE VICE-PRESIDENT
I HEARP ABOUT A HIGH
SCHOOL SOMEWHERE THAT
TEACHES KIDS Haw To BE
homosexuals i
HDW SHOCKING! WE
SHOULD ABOLISH
the department
OF- EDUCATIOM !
r
V_ |i
/
IyHl
*
I HEARD that all the
REPORTERS ON CNN ARE
COMMUNISTS
CEO (or is it now Mayor?) and Commission.
These areas include Constitutional Officers
(and their departments), and the over 35
boards and commissions operating within A-
CC. The unified government has some influ
ence — mostly in the form of approving bud
gets and/or appointing members to serve on
the various BACs, but that influence doesn’t
lead to accountability. It does lead to respon
sibility and (when things go wrong) blame for
the actions of these constitutional and quasi-
govemmental entities.
The courts and the constitutional officers
are accountable to citizens through elections.
The trouble is that their relationship with the
unified government isn’t clear. The arcane
state laws that govern that relationship leave
plenty of room for the courts, constitutional
officers and the elected officials to blame each
Solutions
The lack of communica
tion makes it hard for citizens
to participate in forming gov
ernment policies. They are
forced to react when an un
favorable policy is being
implemented. Often folks
opposed something solely on
the basis of rumors, because
government communication
efforts are so lame. Once a
conflict explodes on the
scene, it is hard to know who
is accountable for it or who
created the policy — a BAC,
a special interest group, a
lobby, a department, etc.
Fortunately, these problems have a simple
solution. All that has to happen is for the gov
ernment to do a better and more proactive
job of communicating with the citizens. Tha’’
will solve most of the problems. It won’t make
conflicts go away, but it will help us to work
together towards solutions. As for account
ability to citizens, a clear understanding the
relationship of the unified government to
BACs, constitutional officers and courts
would help sort that out. And strong ethics
laws, lobbying laws and campaign finance re
form would help to enforce that
accountability.
Dennis F. Greenia
Publisher, Flagpole Magazine
NEXT WEEK: A case study...
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APRIL 10, 1996
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