Where’s the discussion?

The Saratoga Town Council is in the second month of the new year and it is already facing criticism on how meetings are being conducted.

The people want to be heard and that is understandable.

During the election, voters shared their frustrations about not hearing discussion from the council before a decision is made. For important decisions, we feel the council should not only discuss matters, but also seek public comment whenever possible.

It is not unlikely that a citizen may have a comment or idea that could be helpful in coming to a resolution on a difficult issue.

Before the election, council members stated they did not realize the public wanted to know how they came to their decisions and claimed they would try harder to make the decision-making process more public.

The Saratoga Sun is not saying the decisions the council makes are wrong, but we do stand with the voters in wanting to know why the decisions are being made.

Being a public servant is not an easy job by any means and we at the Saratoga Sun respect that. Tough decisions have to be made however and sometimes these uneasy determinations are not popular.

When there is no discussion on an agenda item, it appears that there has been private discussion between the council members before the meeting.

The Saratoga Sun encourages the Saratoga Town Council members to have a discussion before any vote so that the public has an opportunity to understand the Council’s decision-making process.

We may, in fact, learn something from the discussion.