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Tuesday, July 5, 2016

July "1st Tuesday Mtg" (aka "transparency black hole") cancelled in #Davidson

The "1st Tuesday" informal board meeting is cancelled this month in Davidson.

That's per a Friday press release from the town.

What residents don't know is what would have been talked about if the meeting had been had.

Agendas for these 1st Tuesday meetings typically aren't published.  They are billed as "informal" meetings where Commissioners discuss various topics but no votes are taken.  Sparse minutes are made available after the fact.

The curtain was pulled back on these meetings last month when the meeting had to be called as a "special" meeting due to a date change.

Special meetings require agendas per state statute and the one for June 6th revealed that the 1st Tuesday meeting (this one being held on a Monday) actually discussed important items.

But when the Board got to the second part of the agenda, the June meeting had running video cut off - preventing citizens from viewing.

If Davidson is looking to turn over a new leaf when it comes to transparency, one idea would be to set town policy to record all town controlled meetings where there is a quorum of  Commissioners.

That would close the "transparency black hole".

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