We need a more open city government

By Joan Leon

Residents are not being fully informed about issues in the city.

Major projects

The city has signed a contract with Chevron to accept contaminated sand from the Guadalupe oil leak site, to be trucked to the municipal landfill, through city streets, for several years. There were no meetings in Santa Maria specifically to discuss this project. The city did place an ad in the Legal Notices that listed many changes at the landfill, about green waste, cement, asphalt and electronic equipment, plus this NHIS sand. How many residents knew what NHIS sand was? And how many ever read the tiny print in Legal Notices? That may have been the minimum required by law, but not any real attempt to inform the public.

Farmers are concerned about the contaminated sand leaking the kerosene distillate into the ground water that they rely on for their farming future.

Now we are being told that this is a great project, will restore the Guadalupe dunes to be an eco-tourist destination. If it is such a great project, why weren't we allowed in on the discussion? What will be the impact on our air quality and roads? What were the alternatives that we never got to discuss?

Consent agenda

Many items are lumped together in the Consent Agenda and approved with a single vote, unless some one asks that an item be discussed. The council members may know what is going on, but many members of the public would gain from more discussion. For example, at a recent meeting the council approved in the consent agenda, the Growth Mitigation fees for another three years. There was no discussion about how these fees are being used, whether or not they were adequate, or how they compare with other similar sized cities.

The agenda is on the city's web site, and a person can look it up and get the staff report, but I think one of the purposes of a council meeting is to inform the public.