Transparency in Government - What does it really mean?

Transparency in Town Government

Notable figures throughout our history have discussed government transparency at length because they recognized it for what it is - an essential element to a free democracy. They understood that ‘democracy requires accountability, and accountability requires transparency.’

But when discussing governmental transparency, few of us know what it actually entails. The Wakefield Civic League has been studying what it means when we talk about transparency in government, and will be presenting a piece on this topic so that those who are interested will have a better understanding of what we should be seeing from our town government.

Transparency is so much more than simply making information available! To illustrate what transparency isn’t, here is an example.

There were three items on last Monday night’s Board of Selectmen agenda that were not discussed at that meeting; all correspondence, from the MA Lottery Commission, from Paul Brodeur and Donald Wong to the Commonwealth and from a Jean Nicholson. None of the letters were read into the record, nor were any of the topics of the letters discussed. This is not the first time this type of omission has happened.

This is not meant to disparage the Board of Selectmen in any way or to suggest the board deliberately attempted to hide information. Rather, the aim is to use a local example to illustrate how easy it can be to begin the process of improving and enhancing transparency for the benefit of both citizens and government.

It is not up to the government to decide what and how much information should be shared with the public (with the rare exception of something so sensitive as to warrant an Executive Session, and even then, the minutes for such private sessions are to be made available as soon as doing so would not hinder the outcome).

It is the role and duty of the government to make virtually all information available in an easily-accessible way, and then it is up to the citizens to decide if and how to act upon it. But citizens won’t know if and how to act upon something if the information is not made readily available in a timely and comprehensible fashion.

As our town moves forward, true transparency needs to be to embraced and the things that make it possible put into place. Once established, transparency and all that it means will do much to protect the integrity of our government, encourage citizen participation, promote the accountability of our town government and respect the integral role of Wakefield citizenry in our town governmental process.

Wakefield Civic League

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