On Wednesday, the powers that be in our fair county met to discuss the region’s business in their monthly public meeting, held via Zoom video conference due to the pandemic situation.
While most of the exchanges were congenial and straightforward, there were some uncomfortable moments that need to be addressed, both having to do with the accountability of our elected officials.
Early in the MRC meeting, Clarendon Mayor John Armstrong responded to a question from the public regarding an algae bloom at the beach in Sand Bay, an ongoing issue that’s been written about extensively in this paper. While not an MRC issue, the mayor spoke about what action his council had taken on the file. In a perplexing move, Armstrong tried to recall his entirely uncontroversial statements from the public record just minutes after uttering them, despite the fact that the MRC’s Zoom call was being recorded and it had been stated for the record that it would be posted online at a later date.
“I’m asking the papers involved tonight, to not print this in the paper what I’ve stated,” he said. “We are dealing directly with the individuals, we are not getting into a conversation in the paper, so I would appreciate this not being put in the paper.”
For a newspaper, the mayor’s attempt to avoid more headlines about the situation in Sand Bay is frustrating, but not surprising. Representatives of the municipality have been tight-lipped on the issue, likely due to the residents of Sand Bay crowd-funding a lawyer for the case.
However, statements made during a public meeting cannot be retroactively recalled, something Mr. Armstrong knows well. There are no “take-backsies” during a taped call with dozens of people. If the mayor wishes to converse with his constituents directly, then he should do so. His initial response was simple and straightforward, which is what made his attempt at a retraction so bewildering. The fact that the situation is even being written about in this column is proof of the Streisand Effect.
Another worrying bit of discussion took place in the media scrum after the public meeting. The current communications officer for the MRC, Colleen Jones, admitted that the membership lists of MRC committees would not be divulged until a later date.
THE EQUITY has been pressing various officials for a list of all MRC committees and their membership for nearly a year now, even going so far as to file an access to information request last summer (which eventually proved fruitless).
Ms. Jones, along with Warden Jane Toller, gave the excuse at the media scrum on May 20 that members of these committees had to sign release forms that permitted the MRC to divulge their identities to the public, which was presented as the reason for the delay. Council even got to review the draft list of committees in their plenary session, but oddly the issue wasn’t even broached during the public meeting.
“We saw the list, we saw the names of people on the committees, and it was very much stated that, yes, this should be public information, but … there is a need to perhaps inform the people on the committees that this is going to be posted,” Toller stated during the call with media. “But it is going to be posted, perhaps in a month.”
The people on these committees are making decisions for the public and are ostensibly spending public money. Why is there such hand-wringing around making their identities public?
Why has it taken nearly a year from the time that THE EQUITY requested the membership of these committees for the MRC to actually divulge the names? Surely, if officials kept tabs on such things, it would be an easy list to disseminate. The previous MRC flack departing for greener pastures last year explains some of the delay, but certainly not all of it.
If local councils and elected officials wish to instill some confidence in the public they serve, they would do well not to insult their collective intelligence. Being transparent and accountable is important for people in public office. By being overly cautious or secretive with information that the public has a right to know, these officials have fumbled what should have been easy public relations wins.
Caleb Nickerson
