Accountability has to start at home. A government that bypasses its own constituents has no standing to lecture the state about public participation.

This column is not about whether the County Commission reached the right decision. It is about how they reached it, and why that matters. The process lacked transparency and public participation. The commission may have arrived at the same conclusion through proper channels, but we will never know. What we do know is that community members, advocacy groups, and directly affected property owners were shut out entirely. Read More