Listening to the meetings of the last year has been a great learning experience! One thing that became clear is that the community wants more transparency. That is perfectly reasonable and with today’s technology…very doable with little cost. The county did great live streaming the county meetings. We can do better. As a truck driver, I have a lot of time to listen to streaming audio but I can’t watch videos for obvious reasons. As commissioner, I would push to, not only continue the live streams of the meetings, but also take the audio and make them into podcasts to create even more ease of access for residents to hear what is going on in the county. I would also push for weekly short video updates that anyone could access to inform what is going on in the county and what is coming up for the meetings. I believe communication can always be improved and these are 2 ways to do that.
One of the great things the County Counsel did was to move their meetings to night. This is something I would push for the commissioner meetings to do as well. It is important to understand that most residents work 1st shift jobs that make it difficult to attend meetings and offer input in person with out taking time off. This can absolutely improve and should.
As a commissioner, ALL CONCERNS WILL BE VALIDATED! One of the very concerning things I have seen and experienced first hand from some of our county officials, is a dismissive and defensive attitude towards members of the community who offer differing opinions or criticism. I experienced this directly from Bohannon in regards to the issue of the jail a few years ago and continue to see the same on social media from him. Recently, I was blocked by him on Facebook after asking legitimate questions concerning his proposal for using nuclear power. Public officials who are elected need to be able to take criticism as learning and growing experiences. They should know how to listen and consider differing opinions. They should ALWAYS validate ANY concern that is brought to them by the public.