Yes, this is a new website. I started Clarkston Secrets to talk about things that the city would rather keep secret (hence the name). I’ll still be regularly posting there, because if there’s one thing Clarkston government excels in, it’s keeping secrets.
So why “Clarkston Sunshine”? The word “sunshine” is used in connection with the concept of open government. We even have a national sunshine week to celebrate. From BallotPedia (https://ballotpedia.org/Sunshine_Week):
Sunshine Week is an annual event sponsored by the American Society of News Editors. Its purpose is to educate the public about the importance of open government. ‘Though spearheaded by journalists, Sunshine Week is about the public’s right to know what its government is doing, and why. Sunshine Week seeks to enlighten and empower people to play an active role in their government at all levels, and to give them access to information that makes their lives better and their communities stronger.’
The thought behind Clarkston Sunshine is to provide you with general information regarding what’s going on in Clarkston government. We are a small community, mostly run by volunteers and part-time employees, something that was inevitable with such a small carve-out from the larger and better run Independence Township. Though I’ve been really critical of most of our city council, I think that our employees by and large do the best they can with what they have.
Unfortunately, our city government tends to do a lousy job informing the community about what’s happening. This results in most people being in the dark until something happens that makes them say, “what the heck is going on here?” Things like the sudden closure of the end of a city block benefiting only one restaurant. Or giant arches going up on that same street being built by the same restaurant. Or soon, if the city council proceeds with its current plans, out-of-town people wandering around downtown with special cups filled with alcoholic drinks. Do you agree with these things? Do you disagree? You’ll never be able to weigh in if you don’t have the information. Once the city starts rolling with a plan, they’re required to listen to your comments but you will not change their direction.
A lot of new activity around town starts with the planning commission. Do you know what they do, who has been appointed, what their backgrounds are, when they meet, who their alliances are with, and what they’re talking about? You should. They are impacting your life and your property values, whether you realize it or not.
One could ask the same questions of the historic district commission. Do you know that they have the authority to slap “stop work” signs on your home without even asking any questions of you for any home improvement that piques their interest, even if what you’re doing violates no ordinance or any rule? This means that you are obligated to stop whatever you are doing, no matter what additional costs you may incur as a result of their mandatory orders. Do you know that one former historic district commission chair even tried to stop private landowners from cutting down trees on their own property? Do you know that they have a goal to include even more homes within their authority? Do you know that, right now, we are spending taxpayer dollars to pay legal fees to defend some of their decisions? Are they qualified to have this much power over you? Who appoints them? Why were they chosen?
We just had a city council election. Did you vote for council members, or did you skip that section of the ballot because you don’t know who they are and don’t think they can impact your life? Believe it or not, I used to do that. But when city council disbanded our local police department, it was a wakeup call for my husband to serve on city council. And when I made a simple FOIA request for records, I learned that the city attorney thought that he should be able to hide public records in his private office and claim no one had the right to know what he was doing, not even the city council to whom he reports. After five years, I won on the legal question but the case still isn’t over. Do you know how your money is spent and why? Did you know that the council is currently planning to make you pay for sewer repairs, even though you’ve regularly paid into water and sewer funds with every water and sewer bill you’ve ever paid? Why is that?
What about the zoning board of appeals? Who are they and what do they do? You’ll find out quickly if you want to make a change on your property and want a second chance to make your arguments about why it should be allowed. If you look at the Clarkston government website, there have been no zoning board of appeals minutes published since May 9, 2017. Is this because no one has had an appeal for three years? Maybe. Or perhaps it’s because the city government hasn’t gotten around to it.
You won’t even know what questions to ask if you don’t have basic information. All of the groups I’ve just mentioned – the planning commission, the historic district commission, the zoning board of appeals, and the city council – publish minutes that, in most cases, are severely lacking in detail but meet the bare legal requirements. Is it intentional? Why aren’t you given more detail?
Because of the pandemic, more people can attend meetings of these groups electronically, but I’ll bet most people don’t even know what they do unless they are individually affected by a decision. Only the city council meetings are available on the Independence Television website – why is that? All of these meetings could be recorded if the city wanted to do it – why don’t they do that? It’s not legally required, but shouldn’t it be done in the interest of informing the public? And, if video recordings are not possible, why can’t the city post audio recordings for these groups in the related section of the city website? Shouldn’t that be something that you should expect of your local government, given the high taxes you pay?
We can complain, or we can do something. The “something” that I’m going to try to do is volunteer to give you an honest-to-goodness set of minutes for city council meetings. I’ll provide you with the council packet and cite to the pages that correspond to the minutes. I’ll provide you with a link to the video and a time marker notation so you can jump to the parts that are of interest to you. You will also be able to search by topic or key words.
That’s the goal anyway. If the city council screws up and doesn’t record a meeting, then I’ll be as much in the dark as you are, but I will certainly let you know that they didn’t provide one. To the extent that I can, I may post other things that you might find interesting about city government.
Obviously, this is aspirational. I have a regular job, and it does require quite a bit of time to do this. I plan to focus on the city council because I can watch their meetings online, and like many of you, I don’t have the time to go to the other meetings. If one of you regularly attends and wants to report on the planning commission, the historic district commission, and/or the zoning board of appeals, please send me an email at clarkstonsunshine@gmail.com. If all you can do is record a meeting, I can provide you with a link to share it with me and I’ll try to do the rest.
I also hope that you will comment, share any knowledge you have, suggest corrections if I’ve made an error, and ask questions in the comment section under the posts. I invite our local officials to respond if they have anything to add in response to any of the comments. We all should be able to engage in a civil way.
So, that’s why I’m starting the website. I hope that you find it helpful, and I hope that if you have the time to collaborate, we can work together with a common goal of a more informed community.
(Original post date: 11/8/2020)