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Open Government - It's your right to know In January, 1973 the Colorado Sunshine Law was enacted and the declaration of policy stated; In order to continue the public confidence in the integrity of government offices and to promote trust of the people in the objectivity of their public servants, this open disclosure law is adopted. In simpler terms, these laws gave us specific rules on what constitutes a public meeting, how to record the meetings and what forms of information are for public knowledge. Meetings must be posted to alert the public to anticipated agendas and the list goes on. To simplify even further it means “open door policy” to any department in our county. As a citizen, you have the right to call or visit one of your county offices and request information. It would be a challenge if all citizens were interested in reviewing the county budget. However citizens do have the right to ask and we should respond when asked. In a previous article I spoke of a retired citizen who visited the Clerk and Recorder office and had many questions about other departments and their budgets. We called the finance division and they immediately invited him to a budget session in process and addressed all of the concerns he had. This is a great example of responsive government. To compare this to my life, my husband and I have separate bank accounts and I compare this disclosure to me asking to see his bank statement. The important thing to remember is, I trust my husband and I have never asked to see his bank statement because we review our budget monthly together It is hard to trust when you are not in control of the revenues or expenses and don't understand why and how we make the decisions. Does it mean the county has always made great decisions? Probably not, but I do believe they have made the best decisions with the information they have. Over sight is important and there are myriad of commissions reviewing and dissecting all levels of government. The bottom line, is that our government belongs to all of us. Therefore when you ask, we should respond. One source of frustration to citizens is the fact that the commissioners will not discuss informally a potential zoning change. This is for a good reason. Once an application has been submitted, the applicant has every legal right to expect that all discussions about the application will be equally considered, and that a decision has not been made on it until all the evidence has been heard at a public hearing. If you were submitting a minor change to your property, would you be comfortable knowing that a commissioner has had a private conversation (previous to the public hearing) with your neighbors, where the commissioner told them that he/she was going to vote against your request? Further, the county could and would be sued if it behaved in that way. Douglas County does have an open door policy but how we serve the public is the bigger issue. We should be responsive, sensitive, caring, energetic and all of those things we all recognize as good customer service and a full hearing process. As your commissioner, here's what you can expect: I will answer all e-mails and calls within a reasonable time frame. If I am unable to address your concerns or questions, I will search out the answers by speaking with the appropriate department so your issue could be addressed. I will be accessible by continuing the town meetings throughout the county. I will treat all citizens with the greatest amount of respect for your concerns. I understand and respect your passion for your issues. I will continue to support and build on the culture of great customer service from all employees. If the employee could not resolve the issue, they would immediately request help from their supervisor, department head or elected official. I will listen. While on the Castle Rock Town Council I learned that most citizens were either unable to take time from their busy lives or felt they would not be heard. In many instances a citizen addressed the council and helped us by bringing an issue we had not considered. Those special times are the experiences I remember most and appreciate. They empowered me to continue to serve and respect all citizens' opinions. As a business owner and leader in our community for over 25 years, I have mentored, taught and guided many businesses to success. In my position as Chief Deputy of the Clerk & Recorder office I worked in partnership with other departments to reevaluate the counties evaluation process to support “Pay for Performance.” Core competencies were established and give county employees guidelines and goals to which they can personally strive. I understood that responsible, efficient delivery of services by training and deliberative decision making by higher level staff requires training and setting standards of success for employees. The culture of great customer service must come from the top down and the commissioners set that expectation. This is the only culture I accept for our citizens now in the Clerk & Recorder office and will be when I am commissioner.
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