People often ask us why we created the Kennesaw Watch. It’s a simple answer. It had to be done. There was a dyer need for transparency and accountability in Kennesaw. Period. PERIOD. Not to put too fine a point on it, there are problems inside the Kennesaw administration. The recent pawn shop debacle is but one example of how things can go horribly downhill (fast) if others are NOT WATCHING and do not get involved.
Here are the facts, Dear Watchers.
1. There is too much unnecessary spending (we call that frivolous, where I come from). We have council members who believe it is their right to attend every training class offered on the city’s dime. Meanwhile, those who truly need it, i.e., the employees, go without. We have council members who buy large amounts of city clothing for themselves. We have council members who take trips for golf outings and quail hunts. Folks, we don’t live in Montana and we aren’t hosting the Masters.
2. There is too much un-budgeted spending on large items that we, the taxpayers, did NOT approve. If a large item, such as the teen center (cleverly disguised as the community house and pottery barn combination project, it appears from the records) can go on consent for $200,000 and we know nothing about it, there’s a major problem. Now, from our way of thinking, if we have the luxury of spending that kind of money on a non-necessity, why are there such discussions over the Stormwater system?
3. With all of the spending, we should have the ability to see any of the financial records without paying additional taxpayer money for them. Think about this carefully now. We are the taxpayers who pay the elected folks and their staff, correct? And if we want to see the details of how they are spending our money, we have to pay to do so? Does that make a bit of sense? Of course it doesn’t. It’s wrong and it’s a reflection of the type of leadership we have at the top.
So when people ask us: why are you doing this? It’s for the taxpayers. It’s for all of us. We elected these people and some of them went in with wonderful plans and great ideas. But along the way, something happened. Maybe they got big egos. Maybe the economy hit their businesses and households and they had to think differently. Maybe every day is a bad day for them. Maybe they think it won’t catch up to them. Who knows? But we are only asking for simple things: BE HONEST. We have a right to know what’s going on. BE TRANSPARENT. If you don’t act like you are hiding things, we won’t suspect you of hiding things. Finally, BE ACCOUNTABLE. If you mess up, admit it. Don’t create a lawsuit out of it by blaming others and letting them take the fall.
At the end of the day, is that really too much to ask?
Tags: accountability, city government, city manager, city of kennesaw, council, kennesaw, mayor, mayor mathews, transparency, voter
This comment above is exactly what is wrong with our council. They take credit for doing things they have no part of. Cris wasn’t even around when Swift Cantrell was created or launched. Cindy Jiles (Giles?) was the councilwoman back then (man, I miss those days). John Dowdy was on the council.
You state above that we can’t expect council to “fix everything”? We elected them to represent us because we are not expected to be at every meeting. We do not, nor should we, speak to the city administration every day, as they do. I guess on one hand we don’t want them to “fix” everything, if by “fix” you mean to underhandedly assure the outcome of something? But if you were referring to “solving a problem” then YES, they need to “fix” the issue because that is what they were elected to do.
They are also responsible for growing this city and while I am here, I don’t see that happening at all. I see growth in all of our local cities around us but not here in dear old Kennesaw. Why aren’t we focusing on that, Mr. Mayor? Where are our sit down restaurants? We don’t want to hear anymore about how we logistically cannot pull it off. Others have and so should we. Let’s focus our attention on doing what you said you would do. Not in Atlanta. Not in Marietta. Here. Kennesaw. Remember, this was YOUR town?
After reading this I felt I needed to throw in some thoughts on the other side of things. everyone wants to throw blame around. well, we cant expect the council to fix everything for us and some things are just out of their control. this website talks about being open and transparent. the council and mayor are open and transparent but its the city staff who decide what records to allow. has anyone ever thought about the fact that the problem is actually at the city and not with the officials? every one wants to blame cris for everything when shes the only one who brought anything good to our city. just look how parks and recreation has grown since she came. before her we only had those meet in the neighborhood park things that nobody cared about except the director doug. now we have swift cantrell because of her and we will soon have larger and better managed festivals down town for us. if you really want to make a difference as the website says put the pressure on the city staff and quit blaming our mayor and council. the city staff are the ones not doing the jobs not the mayor and council. if the mayor and council were in the jobs things would get done and those records would be up on the website immediately. but even cris and mark cannot make that kind of stuff happen. it has to go through the city manager. learn the process people, learn the process. put the pressure on the right people and you will see results.