Open vs. closed

Maybe it's just me, but I think there's going to be a temptation to read way too much into the story on the closed door policy of purchasing private land. Obviously, right off the bat, some misguided folks are going to jump the gun and lay the blame at the current mayor and commission, but there are considerable points to consider in this piece, which is a pretty interesting one ...

- Athens-Clarke County clerk Jean Spratlin says the local government has been following this policy for more than 35 years, which would include a variety of mayor and commissions of all sorts of ideological stripes;

- Athens-Clarke County is far from being the only community following this policy, as noted by the Georgia Municipal Association, which acts as the guiding organization for local governments;

- The GMA is officially on record as opposing the attorney general's opinion that votes to buy land must be in the open, and that office's opinion hasn't yet been challenged in court;

- While you hate to play the numbers game, we're talking about $7 million to buy 80 acres in this community over the past four years. Contrast that with the example of Gwinnett County which doled out $150 million to buy land behind closed doors;

- The land being purchased is not being done to put something up like a strip mall. Rather it's going toward space for a parking deck or a fire station, things which are necessary and vital to the continued growth of our community;

- The votes are being done after good faith negotiations between the seller of said property and the local government, as is the case with every other transaction in our country;

- It's not money we're secretly funneling anywhere or randomly pulling from another section of the budget. The actual votes to approve the transactions, though done behind closed doors, come from an existing budget that was debated and voted on in public.