I’ve been hearing a lot of cries of "lack of transparency" in connection with Kyle’s city government of late. Although faithful readers must admit I have been a severe critic of certain actions by our political leaders and municipal administrators, every time I hear "lack of transparency," I translate that as someone screaming "I’m not well informed, I don’t know enough about the facts of this situation, I’m stupid, but that’s not my fault so I’m going to blame someone else for that fact."
There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution, the Texas Constitution or Kyle’s City Charter that requires someone to be well informed. Becoming knowledgeable is not a right, it’s a choice. And it’s a choice that requires a certain amount of effort. Don’t expect someone else to bless you with information and knowledge. You must seek them out for yourselves, understand them and digest them.
I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if many of those individuals who have cried about "lack of transparency" even know what a CAFR is, let alone actually studied one. Simply put, it’s the most extreme example of complete transparency by any municipality. It’s available for anyone who wants to read it. In fact, I’ll make it easier for you, click right here to read Kyle’s CAFR. But you still must make the effort to read and understand it. And, if you choose not to make that effort, don't blame that on "lack of transparency."
When City Manager Scott Sellers e-mailed his proposed FY 2016-17 budget to city council members, that proposed budget was also posted on the city’s web site, available for anyone who wanted to become more informed, to read, study and learn from it. But anyone who wanted to become more informed about what was proposed for the City of Kyle for the next fiscal year had to make the effort to go to the web site. Just because the city’s doesn’t want to waste taxpayers’s money but printing and mailing a copy of that document to every citizen’s place of residence and business is not a sign of lack of transparency. It’s a recognition that the city is making wiser decisions about how to spend available resources. But, wait! I’ll make that easier for you as well, I have already provided links to the manager’s proposed budget in other posts, but here is another one. Read it. Take the effort to become more informed. (For those without access to a computer, a printed copy of the proposed budget is available during regular business hours at City Hall and the Kyle Public Library.)
Council member Travis Mitchell is apparently making the effort to share with the public the reasons why he votes on specific council agenda items. But citizens must make the effort to seek his positions out and read them. Here, I'll try to make that easier for you as well. But you will still need to click on the aforementioned link and then read Mitchell's comments for yourself. No one can compel or force you to do it.
Earlier this week Sellers gave what was billed as a "State of the City" speech to the Kyle Chamber of Commerce. In an effort to become more informed about what was happening in the community I’m proud to call home, I went on-line to the chamber’s website which provided an incredibly easy way for me to purchase a ticket to this luncheon and learn for myself what the city manager had to say. I chose to make that effort.
Now I’m hearing that this address by the city manager was another example of the city’s lack of transparency. No, it isn’t. In fact, it’s just the opposite. Don’t blame someone else because you chose not to pursue this information.
But, so the argument goes, if the city was really transparent, a citizen wouldn’t have to pay to attend this meeting. That argument is so patently ridiculous on so many levels it’s difficult to decide just where to begin. But let me start with the fact that the Chamber is a private entity, which relies for its income on dues-paying members and functions such as this luncheon. And having been a president of a Chamber of Commerce myself, I can assure you that, if lucky, these chamber luncheons are break-even affairs at best. Admittedly, this chamber does receive city funds, but those are for the chamber's economic development efforts, not for its citizen educational programs.
It should also be recognized that Sellers's address was not the revelations of encyclopedic knowledge, but one person's vision (albeit an well-informed vision) of Kyle, both today and for the future.
But more important than that, there is no law, no regulation, no charter provision, no ordinance that states the pursuit of knowledge is free. It isn’t and it never will be. That’s why more than 50 percent of your total tax bill goes to the local school district, whether or not you have someone residing with you who attends a local school. That’s why colleges charge tuition. That’s why you pay for books to learn from.
Any citizen who wishes to become more informed about what’s going on in their community must make the effort. That’s the reason for the expression "the pursuit of knowledge." No one, however, is going to force you to pursue knowledge, to make yourself more informed. We don’t live in some Orwellian, Kubrickian society where we strap our citizens to chairs, attach wires to their brains and force-feed them information. But if a citizen chooses not to pursue information, decides not to seek knowledge and, as a result, is uninformed and ignorant about what is happening around them, don’t blame someone else. Don’t cry "lack of transparency" because you chose not to learn.
This nation's protections of freedom of speech allow anyone to scream "Lack of transparency," but the fact is such screams are more of an admission than an accusation.
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