Hoover has received many accolades over the years. As the Hoover Sun reported, Hoover made Livability.Com’s “Best Places to Live” list. Niche.Com says it’s the Number 4 “Best places to live in Alabama.”
Hoover residents have every reason to believe, if not expect, that those they elected are seeking the best of everything for their city. The bare minimum just isn’t going to be good enough. Yet that’s what several city officials have been offering in recent years and what has been condoned by the City Attorney. Who as Alabam Today reported earlier today, has seemingly misled them and the public as he justified turning the light of transparency down on public information.
Half the answers, half the information, and partial accountability.
No elected official has ever promised during their campaign that they’d do the bare minimum. Not one person has put on a mail piece that they will waste taxpayer money or push through half-baked plans contrived in smoke-filled back rooms. Finally, no one has ever said I’ll put my own interests and that of my friends above that of my constituents.
Earlier this week, I published “5 Questions that residents of Hoover should be asking.” Residents and city councilors have already asked all of these questions, but no satisfactory answers, if any, were given.
I submitted a public records request six weeks ago focused on the city’s ongoing forensic audit so that the public would be aware of what is being kept from them. Crickets. Execpt for the response after council meetings by its Clerk that the city is still “reviewing” my request.
I’ve lost track of how long it’s been since I asked the PIO for information on the city’s annual audit.
I’m still hopeful that the high standards that made Hoover an award-winning city that has attracted families and businesses kick in and break the dam on information being withheld is provided, if not to me directly, to everyone in the form of a discussion at a council meeting, a press release and a statement from the Mayor himself.
This seems unlikely. Sources, including residents and current and former city employees, tell me that behind the scenes, the City of Hoover has had internal fighting for years—city employees vs. the council vs. the mayor vs. the city manager vs. the city attorney. These fights essentially form a circular firing squad that has resulted in high staff turnover at all levels within the city, information being withheld from parties that should be working together, public squabbles, and alienation.
Meanwhile, problems of substance fall by the wayside. From failing to respond to simple media and public record requests to economic development projects being fast-tracked or left up in the air, trash pick-up, sewer/stormwater issues, and more. The problems persist and seem to be getting worse.
Some council members reportedly see their role as an extension of the mayor’s staff rather than a member of an independent deliberative body. City employees tasked with serving both bodies show clear and deliberate bias to the point of being ineffective at or refusing to do their assigned jobs. Finger-pointing is all too common. Staff have to choose between satisfying their job responsibilities or keeping their bosses happy.
These fights don’t benefit the city’s residents or businesses in any way. What’s worse is the lack of transparency that allows, if not permits, them to continue.
One of the biggest information gaps is increasingly with the city’s financials. However, no one in the city has talked about it publicly. We know there is a forensic audit going on right now because a city councilor was questioned about it under oath during a sparely attended hearing and reluctantly disclosed it.
I’m looking for one good reason this email below hasn’t been sent to me per my public records request. More importantly, I’m wondering why no public discussion has been held about why the audit is needed. What was the process for awarding the audit to the firm handling it? How will it be paid for? How does this impact the usual annual audit.
Do these seemingly planned lapses in public disclosure meet the standards residents expect? I think not.
Alabama Today understands from sources that an upcoming proposed open records policy change is forthcoming.
City councilors who state they have no strong feelings one way or the other policies or procedures related to transparency and accountability should have to explain why the current standard should remain to put the burden on the resident, “why do you need to know?” instead of asking themselves “what do we have to hide?”
This proposed resolution, ordinance or policy change may fix a portion of this mess, though no council vote will fix the behavior and attitude of city employees or elected officials.
The only vote that will fix that will happen at the ballot boxes. Stay tuned for Part 2 with further information on what the city should do in its upcoming push to meet the high standards of residents who want more than what is required by law (if that).
This is an opinion piece.
