It’s none of your business, or is it?
April 20, 2008 by changingparma
The protocol of information sharing (or lack thereof) was a major topic of discussion at the April 1st town board meeting. Mr. Lemcke shared with the board that he feels an elected (presumably himself) has the right to seek out information on any subject in respect to the town but does not have an obligation to share that information with the rest of Parma’s elected official unless he feels it is neccessary or decides it’s time to do so. Hmmmmm? see: April 1st minutes
Apparently Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Comardo disagreed, stating that it is an obligation of an elected official to share both the fact and details of his fact finding mission and the resulting information with the rest of the town board. Is Mr. Lemcke keeping secrets? Is there something about his actions that he wants to hide from not only the public at large but his fellow town board members?
A quote from the minutes sums it up well
“Supervisor Lemcke was in favor of being able to gather information and make his own decision on whether it was feasible to pursue further and then provide the Town Board with the information gathered.”
What kinds of decisions is he making about information he receives that he doesn’t share with the remaining board members? Is it really a good policy to leave other members out of the loop? In a representative form of government we have checks and balances - the purpose of a 5 member board is to balance out the decision making process - now we know that Lemcke likes to think that the town is an extension of his landscaping company where he is in full control and calls all the shots, but the town is not his business - it’s the peoples institution and should be run as such. That means that whomever the people elect should be privy to any and all information involving the town and it’s wellbeing whether the information gatherer feels it is worthy or not. Write Mr. Lemcke today and tell him you want him to share any information he receives with the entire board. e-mail him at supervisor@parmany.org
