While we are champions of public records and public disclosure and transparency, we acknowledge lines can be drawn at times in the public interest.
Collier County commissioners drew a line the other day when a 3-2 majority said their director of the county airports is acting responsibly by withholding security plans for Immokalee Regional Airport.
Commissioner Georgia Hiller says that as a commissioner she is accountable for all county operations. Chris Curry, the airport director, who has a military and Federal Aviation Administration background, argues otherwise. The plans, he says, should be for the eyes of law enforcement and aviation professionals only.
His case was not helped by the disclosure that the Collier County Sheriff's Office had yet to be briefed.
Still, divisive commission politics aside, the board could have gone a different route.
What would have been wrong with Hiller and the others asking for an executive, closed-door briefing?
Everyone gets the information and the secrecy they seek, and anyone who emerges from the meeting and leaks the location of security cameras, for example, faces the court of public opinion now and at election time.
Or maybe this board is incapable of working with such finesse.
We are, at the same time, glad that the board decision was made in full public view so citizens can see the process every time an exception to open records rules is carved out.
Collier County arrests 05-23-2012
Collier County arrests 05-22-2012
Editorial Cartoons: May 23, 2012
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 4
RobinofLocksley writes:
hey NDN dummies...the BCC did vote 3-2 to allow closed-door briefing for the commissioners
you guys should pay attention
Porkchopper writes:
Wrong, go look at the video. The block of three, Coletta, Coyle, and Fiala, ignored their responsibility to manage the airport. They put politics ahead of the publics interest.
CollierisParadise writes:
Let's think about publically talking about any airport security. The ability to take off and land at Immokalee today is fairly lax anyway, but when you factor in the remote chance that a terrorist could use the info to defeat any security there is. If we think the security plan (by observation) is inappropriate, write the FAA and ask for a hearing. That's what regulations are for. I strongly support openness with government, but there are some things that we should not oversee.
thisnthat writes:
Why do you say that the Immokalee airport is fairly lax in the ability to take off and land? It is an uncontrolled airport like many rural areas. There is no control tower. Do you fly there or live in Immokalee? Do you know of a situation that compromised the safety of the airport? I agree, the general public should not be able to access the security plan. My concern is that the BCCC is the Airport Authority and they are responsible for the airports. How can they approve and be responsible for a plan that they can not see? Would you want a security plan for your business and not be able to look at what it says, but trust an employee who is not ultimately responsible?
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