Where is the Money Going?
– Current and former councilmembers raise transparency issues –
Piedmont looks at spending $507, 325 in WW bond funds plus $400,000 in Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) funds on unidentified projects.
How are the various projects under consideration chosen? Who proposed the various projects? Did the public have an adequate opportunity to add items to the list? How was the general public informed about how decisions were reached?
Records of CIP Review Committee meetings and their decision making processes are missing.
Those interested in how government decisions are reached frequently rely on broadcasts, recordings of meetings, and minutes of meetings. This was not possible during the recent Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) Review Committee meetings. Interested individuals who could not be physically present found it difficult or impossible to learn which committee members were present, what materials were presented, and how decisions were reached.
The CIP Committee was tasked with determining qualifying projects to use $507,325 of WW bond funds. The Committee came up with their own criteria resulting in a list of five projects. Former Councilmember Garrett Keating and current Councilmember Tim Rood noted there was no matrix or transparent record of how the projects were chosen.
– Meetings dealing with money –
The CIP Committee is not the only City Council appointed committee lacking regular records and minutes of their meetings. The Budget Advisory and Financial Planning Committee is not broadcast or recorded.
The Piedmont City Charter specifies:
SECTION 6.05 PUBLIC RECORD
Minutes for each of such boards and commissions shall be kept as a record of its proceedings and transactions. Each board or commission shall prescribe its own rules and regulations which shall be consistent with this Charter and with City Council ordinances and resolutions, and copies of which shall be kept on file with the city clerk.
The Public Safety Committee’s meetings are recorded and minutes are prepared.
