May 18, 2001
 
 Open meetings are good. They allow for public input in government process. They also keep the public apprised of what elected officials are doing.
 
 Too bad our County Commissioners are so befuddled by the subject. At their meeting Thursday, the topic of open meetings came up. Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to get it.
 
 Other elected bodies get it. Most in the county handle open meetings this way: they have work sessions open to the public, in which officials get information from department heads/administrators on issues they need to address, talk about those issues, and determine how they want to handle those issues. Then, they hold public meetings at which they vote on those issues. Public input is usually taken at both meetings.
 
 The great part about this system is the work session provides lots of good background information for the public on what’s going on in their government. It also allows the public to provide elected officials with pertinent information BEFORE the officials actually vote on something.
 
 The only local government body that does not allow for public input at work sessions is the County Commission. The only place the public can address this body is in their meetings on Thursdays, where they discuss nothing but cast votes on everything. (Question: how can you vote on something you don’t know anything about? Answer: because you meet in secret and talk about everything beforehand.)
 
 That said, at Thursday’s public meeting our County Commissioners took great pains to assure the citizens of Allegany County that they are not against open meetings. In fact, they like the idea, because they have nothing to hide, even though they hide every discussion of every issue from the public in secret “briefings” held on Tuesday mornings.
 
 Yep, every Tuesday at about 9:30 a.m. the three Commissioners meet with the county administrator to review all sorts of stuff. We’d like to give you more information on what it is they’re doing in these meetings, but since we’re only taxpayers they won’t let us in.
 
 Anyway, at their public meeting Thursday our Commissioners hinted that they would love to hold open work sessions - like every other elected body in the county - except for the fact that the Maryland Attorney General hasn’t told them that they can.
 
 That seems to be the official County take on the whole open meetings subject. They will hold open work sessions when the Attorney General’s office tells them that open work sessions are an O.K. thing to do.
 
 However, until that happens, they’ll continue along their current path, holding closed meetings every Tuesday in which they discuss everything they’re going to address in their official session Thursday (and more).
 
 True, it is a complete violation of the spirit if not the letter of the state’s open meetings law, but what the heck.
 
 Public input, they seem to believe, is highly overrated.