Letter To The Editor: City Experiencing Very Little Transparency Regarding Important Issues

Letter to the Editor:

As I have mentioned before, Alton is experiencing very little transparency regarding important city issues. This has been a frequent complaint from many people. Aldermen have been handed resolutions at the start of council meetings to introduce and to approve of which they have no prior knowledge. It is just “Here read this resolution.”

When they ask questions, the mayor looks around for someone else to answer, and often the answer is a shoulder shrug, or the person who could answer, is not there. If the council members are caught off guard, imagine how little informed we the citizens are. I have told many other citizens about this, and when they question me, I tell them to attend a meeting to witness for themselves or if that is not possible, watch the meetings streamed on RiverBender. Well, good luck with that. The ability to watch the meeting being streamed with sound is a coin toss at best as it is quite often unavailable. Many other municipalities have a library of meetings on their website. All one has to do is click on a date to view the meeting. Not Alton.

If you can attend the meetings, there is still no guarantee you will be able to hear what is said. Although there is a new sound system, those who speak do not feel the need to speak into the microphone or to drop their mask while speaking.

The mayor is supposed to be the man in charge. The buck should stop with him. He should insist our IT staff to make it happen. If I, a concerned citizen, get phone call complaints, I know the mayor’s office gets many more. Come on, take charge. Does he not care? Is this part of his plan to keep everyone in the dark? I do not know why; I just know it is a real problem!

Mike Drake

Holly Hill Dr.

Alton

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