Most of us have relatively little interaction with city or county governments. That is until we are in trouble and need police or fire/rescue, need a permit of some sort, or want to make a complaint. In some ways, it is too bad one of those situations will be our introduction to city hall or the county administration building.

We are all responsible for government performance. We cannot treat local government services as we would shopping in a store or as if we were consulting an attorney. For government to be at its best, every citizen should be ready to contribute time and energy to make it work.

We should view being a citizen as an active responsibility. Involvement is key to having good government. If we allow our municipality and county to govern without our input, we are asking for a bad outcome. Citizens need to take advantage of the opportunities afforded for civic involvement such as serving on community boards and other volunteer opportunities.

If citizens are not involved, mistrust begins to develop between government employees and the people they are there to serve. Residents have a civic responsibility to be part of government’s workings. I know that only a few will be able to devote hours to being involved but taking one of the citizen’s academies (see links below) offered will open your eyes to how your government operates.

We can’t have good government without everyone being part of the government. Go to your local council or commission meeting and see how you are being represented. How can you vote to keep someone in a job if you have no idea what they are doing in your name? In the larger governments, that Council Member or Commissioner is being paid a salary and receiving benefits such as medical and pension. Like any employee, they are not anxious to lose their jobs and citizens are the ones those employees report to.

Ask questions of staff and elected officials. Make sure that they understand what is coming before them. From my own experience, I can tell when an elected official or appointed board member has not looked at the agenda package that they are supposedly voting upon at that meeting. The public should not let those acting in our name off the hook for this inattention.

But, when staff, elected officials, or appointed board members are not prepared and do not take their positions seriously, our governments run much less efficiently and our taxes increase. It is the citizens that allow the carelessness and inattention to detail to continue, and then those same citizens whine about the result. In order to hold people accountable, you must have some understanding about how and what those people are supposed to accomplish. That takes involvement and knowledge.

It is incumbent on all citizens to spend an hour or two monitoring and understanding government. If you have more time, you can volunteer. Meet with your elected officials and question their decisions and understand their motives. It probably is a bad sign if a Commissioner doesn’t want to schedule an appointment with you, the constituent. The more you know, the less you will be fooled.

Here are links to two citizen academies. Stuart Police Department also has one.

https://www.martin.fl.us/CARES

http://www.sheriff.martin.fl.us/citizens-academy.html