The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

City Council needs to practice open government

When Mayor Brad Cole first proposed an ordinance intended to curb skyrocketing malpractice insurance rates, he said he was doing so in response to pleas from the public urging someone to do something about the problem.

"The representatives in Springfield have forgotten about the citizens on Main Street," Cole was quoted as saying at the time.

The City Council initially failed to pass Cole's proposal, with voting ending in a 3-3 tie at its June 15 meeting, but Cole was able to convince the council to approve the ordinance by a 4-1 vote Tuesday.

Cole got what he wanted, but in the process he suddenly became much less interested in what the citizens on Main Street, or Illinois Avenue, had to say.

Rather than take the time to listen to comments from his constituents, Cole chose to ram the ordinance through the council while Councilwoman Sheila Simon, who voted against the measure at the previous meeting, was out of town, and barred citizens from voicing their concerns to the council.

It is true, as Cole has said, that the public had an opportunity to speak about the ordinance at the June 15 meeting.

But if the council members can change their views and their votes since the last meeting, citizens who have changed their opinion as well should be allowed to share their thoughts on the issue with the mayor and the council.

Citizens should be commended for taking an interest in local government, especially on issues as important than this one. But by barring public comments, the mayor in effect told his constituents that their opinions don't matter.

That is not the way to encourage active participation in public affairs.

When elected officials make important decisions without input from their constituents, it causes citizens' confidence in the system to diminish.

While there may have been nothing anyone could have said to change the views of Cole or any of the council members, the opportunity to try should have been offered.

There are no allegations of a quid pro quo to get votes, but refusing to listen to citizens who took the trouble to attend the meeting and then having council members abruptly change their votes smacks of the kind of back-room politics more associated with Chicago than Carbondale.

The mayor's decision to forbid public comments probably had more to do with him not wanting to listen to points of views that had already been discussed than with any shady dealings. But by ignoring the citizens of Carbondale, the mayor gave an opening to those who say regular citizens have no say in government affairs.

A representative government relies on ordinary citizens to make their views known to their elected representatives.

By refusing to give citizens this opportunity, Cole ignored one of the primary tenets of an open, participatory city government.

Yes, sitting through meetings often becomes boring and seemingly pointless.

But if Cole is unable to endure hours of sometimes-meandering comments in a public meeting, perhaps he should consider a career other than politics.

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