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Public should have a seat at the table

July 31, 2017

The editorial in the July 25 edition of the Cape Gazette was on point. The question being: should Sussex County Council meetings held with consultants - paid from public tax dollars - be private and closed to the public?

These particular private meetings were held, apparently, to discuss the update of the county's 2018 Comprehensive Plan, a plan that will impact current and future residents and is, therefore, of high import to the citizens of Sussex County.

Although the Delaware attorney general said it's OK to hold such meetings in private, the Sussex County Council is free, simply by doing so, to conduct consultant and council meetings in public.

Rightly, as the editorial outlined, decisions that shut out rather than include the public undermine good government and enforce suspicions that elected officials may not be acting in the benefit of the citizenry.

In seconding the words of the Gazette's July 25 editorial, perhaps a minor change ... "the public should have a seat at the table to keep an eye on everything". . . the consultants and the Sussex County Council too.

Clare Brigidini
Lewes

 

 

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