Minutes or Mush? School Beat: Finance: Supr. Heidi Carvin, Michael Pierick and Mr. Hatfield discuss minutes, procedure

Some time ago, I wrote a post on the open meeting law and the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith---about Brad Pitt and Angolina Jolie---about my view that in a community that is truly living by the open meeting law, there are naturally sharp differences expressed in the public discussion of things, yes...kinda like the elevator scene in the movie...but at the end of the day, good things result. Click on the post for the post. Still, the sharp discussion is something that takes some getting used to. And sometimes it feels better to just "mush" the minutes and forget it.

Our current Wisconsin Attorney General wrote about the current trend of school boards as well as city government tending to hide the contents of discussion in vague agenda items and vague or empty minutes of meetings. She strongly affirmed that this practice violated the spirit of the open meeting law and urged all governmental bodies in Wisconsin to not settle for "mush."

One of my observations in Evansville is that over the past year there has been sharper difference expressed publically and though in gentlemanly style, there is always the reluctance to write all this down for the record----- Not reluctance on the Observer's part, because a lot of this is on the audio recordings. It would be nice to just say "After a wild and crazy discussion, the following was the resolution approved by the committee. " Sounds pretty routine, but this version does not inform the public about what the issues were and does not serve the public interest at least as I understand the attorney general of Wisconsin.

The other night at the Evansville School Board Finance Committee meeting, there was a dialogue between Mr. Hatfield, Mr. Pierick and Ms. Carvin about the level of detail reflected in the minutes of Finance Committee meetings.

Click on the audioblogger to listen in:

So. There are times when we all might like to be anonymous. Like to head on up Hwy 10 and get away and do a little fishing at Normal, Mn. However-----public service is a contact sport. There are differences. We need to express them in respectful style and let our elected officials know we appreciate their service even if they differ from us. AND, that we want the minutes to reflect the battle of ideas that took place.

That's how I see it.

And you?