At the June board meeting, the trustees of the town discussed their duties and responsibilities, especially regarding how to handle complaints from the public. Bert Gritz, a town trustee, suggested that individuals with complaints should first take them to Town hall. If the issue is not resolved, it should then be brought to the town board as a whole, rather than approaching individual trustees.
However, David Jones, another town trustee, disagreed with this approach and stated that he wants to handle things that are brought to his attention. There was a debate about micromanaging and what constitutes a personnel issue and whether it should be discussed in executive session. David then suggested inviting a state representative to the July meeting, which everyone agreed was a good idea.
At the July meeting, Mick Dodson, General Counsel with the Oklahoma State Auditor & Inspectors office was invited to speak about the duties and privileges of board members. He emphasized that board members have certain privileges that the public does not, such as access to records and law-enforcement body cam videos.
Dodson stressed the importance of making all records open to the public, including body cam footage and anything else that falls under the category of open records. It’s crucial to ensure that the public has access to information that affects their community. The handling of confidential information by board members was also discussed, and it was emphasized that they would be held accountable for their actions.
The discussions at the board meeting highlighted the importance of transparency and accountability. However, it also brought to light that records are currently not easy to find, especially for new employees who are not familiar with where to find certain records. The board began discussing ways to organize the files. David Jones suggested viewing the records on a shared drive, which is visible to the public. He proposed doing a presentation at the next meeting to show this way of sharing requested records as done by Guthrie and Crescent.
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