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Health & Fitness

The Case of the Missing Media

Thoughts concerning the failure of the Dacula City Council to alert any media to the most recent special work session and their half-hearted attempt to notify the residents of Dacula.

I have attended regular Dacula City Council meetings and monthly work sessions for almost a year. I am trying to become more involved in my community and thought the best way to do that would be to make myself aware of the issues facing our council as it works to provide services for its citizens.

Usually I get a phone call from a councilman acquaintance of mine a few days prior to these meetings to remind me about them. Although I write down the dates of future meetings at the last ones I attended, the Dacula public is normally made aware of their existence through the city's website: dacula.gov, the online community news, dacula.patch.com and notices on the city hall bulletin board. Georgia's Open Meetings Act requires that all government meeting be posted so that the public may make plans to attend if they so wish.

Before a , I was called only two or three hours before, again by my councilman acquaintance. I thought it strange to get such short notice but didn't think about it any further, figuring that it had been a last minute situation.

Find out what's happening in Daculawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

When I arrived at Dacula City Hall at approximately 5:45 for the special work session, I noticed the absence of the Dacula Patch editor, Kristi Reed. I am accustomed to seeing Krist with her notepad and trusty camera at every meeting I have attended this year.

I asked one of the councilmen where she was but was told that they didn't know. Mayor Wilbanks called the meeting to order shortly after so I took my seat. As the meeting progressed, it was revealed that the following day was the deadline for posting the specific item they were discussing in the Gwinnett Daily Post. I felt better since I thought that explained the absence of media and the public. Surely, the forgotten deadline explained the rushed meeting and it had merely slipped their minds to call the media and do the usual news posting.

Find out what's happening in Daculawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

It was only after posting news of my attendance at that meeting on a FACEBOOK status that evening that I learned otherwise. Dacula Patch editor Kristi Reed phoned to ask me what meeting I was referring to. She said she had not been notified of any such meeting. The newsroom of the paper of record for the Dacula City Council, the Gwinnett Daily Post, was apparently not notified either.

After further inquiry to city officials, Reed discovered the meeting had been planned on Thursday, June 16, a full five days -- and three working business days -- before it was held. There was nothing last-minute about it! Actually, even if it had been planned on the same day as scheduled, there still would have been ample time to post on dacula.gov or daculapatch.com -- it's doubtful anyone would have showed up only hours later, but it is not the job of government to assume that the public is not interested in an issue or that it won't take the time to attend.

City officials maintained to Ms. Reed that they abided by the letter of the law by posting a notice of the special work session on the city hall's bulletin board. Dacula City Hall is not famous for having a lot of foot traffic on any given weekday!

But they clearly did not abide by the intent of the Georgia Open Meetings laws by being remiss in posting the bulletin on both the city and Patch websites. The intent of the law is to do whatever is necessary to assure that the greatest number of citizens in a community are aware of such governmental meetings.The notification* of outside media is required under the law. Dacula Patch editor Reed was told by city hall that the whole matter was an oversight.

Yes, it was -- a serious oversight, considering someone from the city posted news of the new commuter bus on Sunday, two days before the special work session. How much longer would it have taken to post one more bulletin? In this "Case of the Missing Media," you dont need Sherlock Holmes to know that something strange was afoot!

Remedies should be considered that might prevent such a serious oversight from occurring in the future.  Presently, there is notice of regular council meetings printed on city trash bills, but that is hit or miss at best, given the fact that trash is now paid twice a year instead of monthly and since a lot of folks pay their bills online, they don't pay much attention to the paper bill.

Perhaps residents could voluntarily sign up for automatic email updates that provide news of any special meetings that are planned as well as reminders for the regular ones. The City of Dacula can do a much better job of complying with the Georgia Open Meetings Act and must for the sake of government transparency and true involvement in the community, which is every citizen's right!

*edited June 26 at 2:30 p.m.

 

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