Especially from the school officials
We hear a lot about "transparency" in local government meetings these days.
We hear a lot about it because we don't see much of it.
Take, for instance, the recent Board of Education vote on a capital plan that wasn't even on the agenda, though some school board members had previously told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that they had already seen, one on one with schools administrators, not just the plan but even architectural renderings.
Translation, some school officials ducked the Sunshine Law and public discussion. One by one, and with the administrators, they decided policy and settled on a deal before you and I and other taxpayers and parents got to have a say in the decision.
Or consider the new county tax increase.
On June 21, more than 150 people packed the Hamilton County Commission meeting in a last-ditch effort to rally for an increase in funding for our public schools. Despite the showing, the commission quickly voted 8-1 to approve County Mayor Jim Coppinger's $691.5 million budget, which did not include a tax increase to fund $24 million in additional needs identified by school district officials.
On Aug. 30, however, Coppinger asked for a revenue increase. One short holiday week later, commissioners voted 8-1 to give him one. County Commissioner Tim Boyd was the "no" vote both times.
This week, transparency won some praise from Boyd and Tennessee state Sen. Todd Gardenhire. And Gardenhire went a step further, calling for some money to be repaid. More on this later.
Boyd last week asked the County Commission to require two separate votes to raise property taxes in the future. Alas, on Wednesday, Boyd's motion to approve the resolution came and went in mere seconds and died early in the commission meeting for lack of a second.
But Boyd the bulldog didn't let it go, and he sarcastically noted that Coppinger didn't give him a one-on-one briefing about the proposed tax increase as he had the other eight commissioners. (You know - we just can't be bothered with those pesky public discussions.)
In the comment period at the meeting's end, Boyd said, "It's a very sad day for the taxpayers in Hamilton County, and it's hard for me to believe this body will not stand up for the most basic elements of transparency and good government, and on such conversations about whether to reassess the millage rate or not."
He's right of course.
We've said before that we have no qualms with either the tax increase - a much-needed element to improve education in our county - or the school board's capital plan. Both are solid responses to real needs.
But we have serious qualms with the lack of transparency and complete lack of public discussion over both.
And again from county officials
Likewise, taxpayers should applaud Gardenhire's initiative to write and get passed legislation that triggered a state audit of the Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau after he attended a CVB annual luncheon that he termed "very lavish." That was, by the way, about the same time that Boyd (again Tim Boyd) got into a spit fight with both the CVB and his fellow commissioners about the CVB's excessive spending - and the secrecy around it.
CVB and other officials claimed the visitors bureau couldn't be letting other cities like Huntsville know what they bid and spent for events like the Ironman triathalon. And after all, they posited, the CVB's operating budget of $7.8 million in 2017 - mostly raised from lodging taxes - brings a nice return of $1.1 billion in tourism business to our region.
That's true enough, but how does Huntsville get the same $1 billion in tourism on a $2 million operating budget?
Well, the results of Gardenhire's requested state audit points to some of that "how."
Detailed receipts were not kept for 36 percent of the $378,298 in credit card charges made by CVB from July 2015 through June 2016. Auditors tallied $48,537 in meals and entertainment for out-of-town clients but also a $14,163 tab for business lunches and dining that involved only Chattanooga area residents. That was for staycationer tourism, right?
Now Gardenhire is turning up the heat, calling for the bureau employees who lost receipts to repay the expenses - out of their own pockets. Cha-ching!
The audit also found the CVB lacked detailed policies for when local meals are allowable, for employee retirement gift ranges, or appropriate limits on miscellaneous expenses. Similarly the CVB failed to make county-required "regular and periodic written reports to the county mayor and commissioners.
We'll remind you again: The mayor and commissioners (other than Boyd and Commissioner Randy Fairbanks, an accountant,) seem to be OK with that. In fact, in July, a majority of the commissioners reversed their June passage of a Boyd-sponsored resolution requiring the CVB and other nonprofits to adopt county travel and procurement policies if 25 percent or more of their operating budgets come from county money - our money.
That's not just a lack of transparency. That seems a bit more like a government suborning of transparency.