07.23.07
AAS Does The Landfill, This Isn’t News
Check this story out, Williamson landfill contract might be revealed. It’s hard to figure out what the point of this story is. Any person that’s heard about this issue knows that the Williamson County Commissioners Court has been hemming and hawing for months on whether or not they’re going to allow the citizens of the county more than a couple of days to look over the contract before public comment, and a final vote is taken on the new deal is finished. And after the many months of negotiation guess what? The Court is still hemming and hawing on whether or not they’re going to allow the citizens of the county to see the contract for more than a couple of days. (Emphasis added).
A controversial new landfill contract could be available for Williamson County residents to review for 30 days before commissioners sign it, County Attorney Jana Duty says.
[…]
It will be up to county commissioners whether residents can get a monthlong look at the new contract, Duty said. Two of the five commissioners said last week that they were unsure how they would vote.
“I have mixed feelings, in that I believe in open government, and we certainly have nothing to hide,” County Commissioner Lisa Birkman said. “On the other hand, we don’t do that for other contracts.”
The Commissioners Court typically releases contracts a few days before voting on them.
Commissioner Ron Morrison, whose precinct is home to the landfill, asked for an outside attorney to look over the contract before the vote. He said he’s open to letting residents review it.
County Judge Dan A. Gattis was out of the country and not available for comment last week. He has said the county would not release the contract for public review.
Commissioners Valerie Covey and Cynthia Long did not return calls for comment last week.
So let’s see…Birkman’s a maybe at best, Morrison’s open to it but we won’t know until he actually votes, Gattis is a no, and Covey and Long won’t talk. Does anyone see three votes for open government in all of that? I don’t. This isn’t news. In between the parts excerpted above is another attempt by the county to make it look like all the citizen outrage is being ginned up by the current landfill operator VMI’s opponent, TDS.
This could all be solved if the county would just open the contract up to competitive bidding and do something else they’ve done very little of, get citizen input and involvement in the process. Now that would be news.