The Importance of Public Sector Transparency

The importance of transparency (providing the public with easy access to the decision-making process and to the expenditure of funds) by public sector entities cannot be emphasized enough. As a former City of Fresno council member, I can say that the City is very committed to being transparent. In fact, a few years ago the City of Fresno's Clerk's Office, ably run by City Clerk Rebecca Klisch, was recognized by The Fresno Bee for its outstanding efforts in providing important information to the general public. There are, however, areas of City government that I believe could be improved.

1). The mayor and council members should make available on the City's website (http://www.fresno.gov/) the daily schedule of meetings with individuals other than City of Fresno staff.

2). Instead of receiving a monthly flat rate for meals and mileage, the mayor and council members should be required to provide a detailed expenditure claim. Since I seldom ate meals at City expense, I did not think it appropriate to receive payment for something I did not receive. I did receive the mileage allotment, but would have preferred to have been paid exactly for the miles driven in my personal automobile rather than a flat amount. The information should be on the City's website.

3). The City of Fresno must do a much better job of clearly documenting expenditures made from council members district allotment. I was embarrassed just prior to leaving office when the Fresno Bee was not able to receive a clear accounting for district expenditures from either my account or that of my council member colleagues. Since I did not keep records of these expenditures (a City staff responsibility), I was only able to tell the reporter in general terms what I could remember spending it on. Again, this information should be on the City website.

The above concerns may seem to be relatively minor, but they could become serious if someone chose to abuse them. The easiest way to prevent that from happening is to make the information easily transparent to the public, and this certainly includes the media.

A postscript is in order: It is even more difficult to determine what the Fresno Board of Supervisors is up to at any given time.

Coming Soon. . .

1). City taxpayers guarantee another business loan?
2). Fresno's parks have come a long way.

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