On Transparency 

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one in a series of op/ed pieces that will provide readers with proposals to improve East Ridge by write-in Mayoral candidate Dick Cook, publisher of East Ridge News Online. The incumbent is welcome to submit his own op/ed articles, as are candidates for City Council.

One of the most popular catchwords in politics over the last decade has been the word “transparency.”

Over the years I’ve listened as citizens in East Ridge City Council meetings begged for our elected officials and city staff to be more transparent, as our city leaders, intentionally or not, have fallen short. 

Allow me a moment of transparency about my campaign for Mayor of East Ridge. My name will not appear on the November 8 ballot. No, it will have to be written in and here’s why.

Earl Wilson was preparing to run for Mayor of East Ridge. The longtime activist who served the city on multiple boards over the years, picked up his qualifying petition and began to organize a campaign that would provide a legitimate challenge to the incumbent. Then Denny Manning, who served three terms on the city council, decided to throw his hat in the ring. Manning got the requisite signatures on a petition and qualified to run. 

In short order, Wilson decided not to turn in qualifying papers at the August 18 deadline, then Manning decided to withdraw from the race on Aug. 25. That meant the incumbent had no challenge and the citizens would have no choice.

It was then that I decided to pursue a write-in candidacy giving voters the opportunity to express their opposition to the way things are currently run inside the walls of East Ridge City Hall.

I could recite a litany of ways in which over the years East Ridge elected officials and staff have been less than transparent with why they are doing something and how they are going to do it. I’m not going to bore you with all of them but here’s a few.

When the city was building Camp Jordan Parkway inside Jordan Crossing, officials lowballed the total price tag to make it more palatable to the taxpayers. All the bells and whistles that make the parkway a showcase were slowly added on. Hey, anybody with a brain knows that building a road is an expensive proposition. At the time, the developers told me that no business was going to sign a contract to hang a shingle in Jordan Crossing until a road was built allowing customers easy access to the stores. 

Fast forward to today … Bob Martino needs a road cut into the south side of his proposed $200 million development surrounding the Red Wolves Stadium. City officials have slow-walked the process. I’m told city officials have thrown out numbers inflating the cost of the road. If the current administration is going to praise its policies of economic development at Jordan Crossing, why are they dragging their feet on Martino’s project? That road should have been built two years ago. The development most probably would be much further along today, you think?

In 2017 the city established a Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA). I was told at the time that the reason it was established was so the city could potentially acquire a piece of commercial property on Ringgold Road. That fact was never revealed to the public. 

Instead the whole enterprise went south when the board got all distracted drawing up a district in which it would have authority to act. That district included hundreds of residential properties subject to being seized by the government. The people were outraged and rightly so. The HRA folded. 

I maintain that if city officials had been transparent about the real purpose of the HRA and kept our citizens in the loop it may have succeeded. The city of East Ridge could have been a better place. 

It is essential that elected officials are honest and open about plans they may have for the city. If an elected official has a vision or idea for the city, they need to take the temperature of the public by asking them if it has merit. If the residents like it, the proposition then is, would they be willing to allow city officials to spend the tax dollars to pay for it? I really believe that’s a good policy, don’t you?

One long-held custom inside City Hall has been that several councilmen/mayor meet individually with the city manager about items on the upcoming city council agenda. I’m told questions are asked and answered about specific items on the agenda. When questioned about whether this defies the spirit of the state’s open meetings laws, the response has been that the Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) advises the practice to save time during council meetings.

Well, it may save time, as very little if any substantive discussion normally takes place during council meetings, but it also gives the perception of back-room decision-making. It erodes what confidence the citizens of this city may have that matters are being discussed openly.

Under a Dick Cook administration, I would discourage this practice in the strongest possible terms. Let elected officials spend the time to make enquiries before the public. In fact, I would propose returning to a custom of having agenda sessions on Thursday evenings between regular city council meetings. That way the council/mayor and city staff could openly discuss the pros and cons of any issue before the board. 

Let the sunshine in! Let’s throw open the blinds completely to the proverbial living room instead of just cracking them.