One of the things that I dread about coming home after an extended absence is the number of phone messages on my machine. Our recent trip only accumulated 26 however, two of them were from N&R reporter Mark Binker - one on each land line.
I called Mark today to find out what was up and he said he had been working on a story that involves the Parks & Rec Commission upon which I sit and wanted some comment in advance of a January 1st publish date. Of course the article was not online so I asked him to email it. While waiting for the email to come we had a long conversation about my perception of the lack of public oversight that is permeating City Hall.
Over the years the City Council has set up numerous Boards and Commissions whose charge it is to delve into various matters in a sort of "advise and consent" role to the Council. One of those, the War Memorial Commission, whose duties were clearly outlined in the City charter have now abdicated their role in overseeing the Greensboro Coliseum. The members of that Commission pretty much self-castrated themselves last month by handing over an unprecedented amount of control of the Coliseum’s operations to Director Matt Brown. The War Memorial Commission freely admitted that they had not voted on anything more than the approval of the last month’s meeting minutes for some time… so they just said to hell with it and codified themselves out of power.
Binker asked Councilman Don Vaughan about the contract mentioned in the above article and reported that “Vaughan questioned why the council-appointed Parks and Recreation Commission was not informed about the contract or asked for its input.” Vaughan was indignant and stated, “The Parks and Recreation Commission exists to advise on just this type of contract and to have input on the whole situation on the public's behalf."
That’s what I thought too when I agreed to serve on the P&R Commission, but the truth of the matter is that I and my fellow Commissioners have not had much to do since was appointed to the position. I’m not sure when the P&R Commission became irrelevant on policy matters but my experience is that so far we are just about as useless as the War Memorial Commission has recently admitted to.
During my short (15 month) tenure on the P&R Commission I have seen umpteen Power Point presentations about how great the department is (which is TRUE, they are one of the best in the nation) but I can only recall one vote on anything of substance besides the approval of the last meeting’s minutes. Despite what the City Charter says about our advisory duties and other responsibilities I have never seen a budget for the department, much less been asked to comment on it or anything else of real substance and I hope this will change.
I have asked about the lack of activity twice in open forums but have been assured that the Commission is simply in a lull. Now I wonder about the lull… what seems to be going on is a very open and public usurpation of oversight on the part of City Staff across all functions. I am un-clear if the contract that the article refers to is something that should or should not have come before the P&R Commission and I am sure that question will be answered in due time, my concerns about the role of our appointed Boards and Commissions are more fundamental in nature.
Perhaps our current charge of developing plans (forum schedule) for the re-fitting and re-use of War Memorial Stadium will re-instate some of the role that the Commission is supposed to play in setting City policy. What really needs to happen is a return to the function of meaningful oversight on the part of all Boards and Commissions that are chartered for that purpose. As I have stated before, the City Council can't afford the time to do everything that needs to be done to keep a firm grip on City government, that is why they created and appointed the Commissions and Boards in the first place.
Binker's N&R article points out that the Parks & Rec Department staff felt they had to act quickly on an opportunity that presented itself, so they did so for the benefit of the department. While the situation is different here, this is the same argument that was the justification for handing over control of the Coliseum to Matt Brown.
The Citizens of Greensboro are slowly relinquishing control of their government to the people that were hired to work for us in my opinion. Our City Council continues to acquiesce to the idea that the professionals know best and that elected or appointed officials should take a more rudimentary role in governance. This trend alarms me, as it should you. I hear, “we have to run the City like a business” over and over… but government is not a business dammit, …it is a GOVERNMENT. You know… public money, public interest, checks and balances… and all that bothersome “of the people, by the people” stuff.
Update: Another appointed Board goes by the wayside.
Update 1/12/04: I have inquired about the Commission's involvement of "Service Contracts", which is what the one in question is. The City issues dozens of them each year and they are not subject to review by the Parks & Rec Commission. Councilman Vaughan stands corrected.
12:19:24 AM 
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