09/02/2010 Letter to the Gilbert Mayor and Council Members from Sarah Crawford

Dear Mayor and Councilmembers:

I am writing you today to please reconsider your decision to not have notes taken and available to the public of your study sessions. I understand you are not legally bound to do so, that video is available online and that it does cost money to have the meetings transcribed but these are the most important meetings you hold.

This is where the public should be able to see the logic, thoughts, debates, and reasoning behind votes you hold at your other published meetings. The "Why" behind your votes is just as important, if not more so, than the "What" of the votes themselves. Citizens need to be able to quickly study and research these meetings without having the tedious task of listening to hours of sometimes garbled and hard to hear video, and then to transcribe it themselves.

Transparency in government is one of the best ways to resist and reject corruption, and I implore you to help the citizens by being upfront and clear about why you make the decisions you do, even if you are not bound to legally. This is an important use of Town funds, and I am confident they can be found and should be used for this purpose.

Thanks for your time and your service.

For Liberty-
Sarah Crawford
Gilbert, AZ