Citizen participation is cornerstone of local government

The idea promoted by some in this community that the Marble Falls City Council tried to push through an unprecedented 28 percent tax hike with little fanfare and on behalf of a handful of vested business interests is simply ridiculous.

All procedures have been conducted out in the open. For proof, all one has to do is look at back issues of this newspaper to see there have been many meetings and public hearings, all of them on the record.

What’s happening instead is that the citizenry is finally waking up from a long nap called apathy. 

Yes, apathy. Sadly, before the tax hike came along citizen participation at City Hall on council nights was virtually nil. This has been a problem for some time, in fact. 

All one has to do is review the record of citizen involvement in local politics and decisions to see just how limited a role residents have chosen to play in everyday policy. 

For instance, the past three council elections have been lackluster affairs at best; the last one was even canceled. No one wanted to run for office; the council ended up being staffed by unopposed incumbents and through appointments.

“Shameful” is the only way to describe the level of citizen participation in city government.

Yet reading some of the uninformed comments on local chat sites and hearing the talk around town would make one think that what goes on at 800 Third St. is a virtual Star Chamber, a group of hooded figures in a darkened hall banging gavels and passing judgment clandestinely.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Representative government is the foundation of our democratic society. We the people elect a representative who in turn takes the pulse of the populace and votes accordingly. It doesn’t matter if the venue is Congress, the Legislature, county commissioners court, a city council or a school board, this is just the way it’s done. And this system has proven effective for governance in the the United States from the lofty halls of Washington, D.C., to the most cramped council chamber.

The fuel that drives this machine, though, is citizen participation. Not only voting, but citizens enjoying the full gamut of participatory government by attending meetings, speaking to their leaders and lodging their opinions.

A prime example of how the system should work have been the most recent public hearings in Marble Falls over a controversial 28 percent tax hike, which city leaders say is absolutely essential for several capital improvement projects.

The last few meetings were packed. But where was the crowd before then? And will they be there later, when the most controversial item the council is voting on is simply repaving a street?

Residents should be involved at all levels and at all times.

However, there is a group that lately has come to the forefront with this objective in mind.

Calling themselves the Concerned Citizens of Marble Falls, they object to the tax increase and call some of the capital improvement projects “inadvisable.”

The group plans to meet at least once a month and operate under a written charter. According to a letter, they wish “to keep all residents informed and involved in the decisions that are being made for us, so we can provide unbiased input to the City Council before final decisions are made and not after the fact.”

Their aim is noble, but what they want they already have. 

Remember, the City Council is an open forum — the sessions are public and residents have a chance to air their views every session during the citizens-to-be-heard portion of the meeting. Council members work for the residents, too. Meetings with them can be scheduled; the leaders have phones, e-mail and snail mail. You’ll probably even run into one or two at H-E-B.

Nothing about this kind of participation is mysterious or secret.

And finally, anyone who disagrees with the council of today should run for office in May, or start fundraising and other means of support for a candidate they want to see sitting in one of those seven chairs by June.

Politics in Marble Falls should be a dynamic, living process; one marked by constant participation, debate and give-and-take, not whining on Web forums and Monday morning-quarterbacking.

If you don’t like what the council is doing, get in there and do it yourself.