Published: August 16, 2008 10:07 pm            

Guest Commentary: Bill Spae

Just the facts about efforts of city, county

Being a relative newcomer to Navarro County and the City of Corsicana, I wanted to take just a moment to say thank you to Judge Davenport, our county commissioners, Mayor Brown, and our city council. Having come from the “big” city, it has been a refreshing change to see our public servants stand up for what they believe and take a progressive view in helping our city and county take forward steps and grow. And they are managing to move forward in a “low wealth” community with very little budget dollars to spend, particularly compared to Ellis/Ennis and other surrounding counties and cities. Nice job!

Having involved myself in both the county and city through volunteer work in a number of organizations and as a commissioner of the Navarro County Emergency Services District #1, I have had the opportunity to see our city and county at work. I attended the last commissioners court meeting as well as the downtown overlay district town hall meeting. We had a great turnout at both events and for that I want to thank those citizens who took the time to be a part of each meeting. Bob Belcher had written a column some time ago where he appropriately slapped each of us on the wrist for not attending more of these kinds of meetings, council meetings, etc. He was right, we apparently listened!

The right of every American to speak out is a fundamental part of our democracy and should be protected and respected. At the commissioners meeting we had a number of speakers who provided their thoughts on the various agenda items but one speaker in particular, an opponent of the proposed power plants, took a less than appropriate tack. Rather than state just the facts, she attacked the commissioners over their lack of preparedness and research on the subject at hand. Turns out, the commissioners were far better prepared than she assumed and Terry Jacobson, county attorney, made that clear when he had the opportunity to speak — thank you, Terry. A similar thing happened at the downtown overlay district meeting that same evening. While the meeting was very positive for the most part and folks were neighborly and factual in their comments, one gentleman decided it was time to just rant about the mayor and council spending money unnecessarily, “busting the budget,” and making bad decisions. There were no facts to back up the rant and therefore, very little credibility was attached to his comments but more importantly no action can be taken on those comments because no actual facts were given that could be followed up on. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that some folks need to vent, we all do at some point. But meetings like the commissioners meeting and the town hall or a council meeting are not the place to do this. Nothing is gained, credibility is lost, and no action can be taken to resolve the issue since no facts are provided. Our citizens should speak up and many did so in these meetings in a productive, factual manner. Our leaders can work with that information. What does not help are accusations with no facts to back them up, loud ranting, and complaints with no solutions. Our city and county leaders all want to do what is best for the citizenry. They don’t get up each morning planning ways to waste money or create wasteful policy. But they are citizens like us and without factual, accurate input they can make mistakes. So be a part of the solution and speak up but provide the facts and maybe a few solutions too. They need our help. Let’s step up!

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Bill Spae is a resident of Navarro County.

        

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