Editorial: Harrison should have been more transparent with new chief vote
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It is not hard to tell people what’s going on.
Seriously. It’s not.
Government can make it seem like swimming through neck-deep mud, but transparency is really pretty easy. All they have to do is make the information accessible, not force anyone to read it.
Not every state decision is a Watergate-style cover-up. Very few county commissioner meetings could end up in an indictment. It would be unusual for a borough council debate to prompt too many problems. But enough people have been investigated, charged and convicted to make sanitizing Sunshine Laws a necessity.
And aside from wrongdoing, there is just a healthy and justified interest. People should know what the government is doing. The money that is spent for paving roads, building schools and providing programs is public money. The public should be allowed to see the books and know how decisions are being made.
Not because there’s a wrong. Because there is a right.
That is why Harrison commissioners should have done better with the May 16 vote to hire Sgt. Brian Turack as the township’s police chief.
Turack has been on the Harrison police force for 12 years. Mike Klein was the 39-year veteran — 29 years as chief — who officially retired in October but stayed on part time during the search for a new chief.
Although Turack doesn’t take the reins officially until July 1, he was hired at an agenda meeting rather than at a regular voting session.
Is it wrong to vote at the agenda meeting? It’s not illegal, as the meetings are publicly advertised to be able to vote on issues that come up.
“In this case, the board did not want to wait any longer, to give the new chief as much time as possible to prepare for his transition,” Township Manager Amy Rockwell said.
But on an issue of this importance, it seems only fair to the people to do it as openly and clearly as possible. By the same token, it seems just as fair to Turack, who will helm a 13-member department that includes five other people who applied for his job.
When meetings, voting and records are fully open and crystal clear, there aren’t questions. It is an easily followable map from one action to the reaction to the end solution.
Telling people what happens isn’t hard. And it’s really the easiest way of preventing problems in the long run.