Editorial: Venue for Elgin's special budget meetings a blow to transparency

Transparency can't be a sometimes thing, easy to embrace when it's convenient and safe, but downplayed when the topic could be messy.

Local governments either are committed to it with policies and decisions that consistently support openness, or they're not. Just as you can't be a little bit pregnant, you can't be a little bit transparent.

That brings us to this week's decision by Elgin city officials regarding the location of three special Saturday budget meetings, the first of which is set for 9 a.m. tomorrow.

Instead of being in the Elgin City Hall council chambers, where they could be streamed online, broadcast on local TV and stored for viewing on the city's website, the sessions - the others are Sept. 16 and Oct. 7 - are planned for the Hemmens Cultural Center. Hemmens lacks the video equipment to record the discussion for residents to view at any time.

The meetings and location come in response to requests from city council members who want to better understand how the budget operates. The sessions will focus on an examination of the components of the city's $300 million budget, not on 2018 budget proposals.

City Manager Rick Kozal and some council members say it's more effective to examine the plan in an informal setting that would allow for more relaxed conversations than in the council chambers with cameras rolling.

"It fosters better communication," Councilwoman Carol Rauschenberger told our Elena Ferrarin this week. Otherwise, "people feel like they are talking to the cameras instead of at each other."

Councilwoman Rose Martinez said it's not about keeping discussions hidden but about having more productive ones. "You don't feel so dumb like when you are asking a question (on camera)," she said.

We applaud the officials' interest in learning more about the budget, but we're troubled by the reasoning for changing the venue. After all, city leaders have held many discussions about important issues in council chambers with all its video capabilities. Discussions are frank, decisions are made and questions - dumb and otherwise - are asked and answered. What is so different about these budget reviews?

We're also certain there are residents who would find value in learning about the budget and hearing the council members ask questions and make early budget suggestions. By moving the meeting to the Hemmens, these residents will have just one option to do that - in person on a Saturday morning - now that tuning in at their leisure is off the table.

The idea that this fosters better communication rings hollow. It's clearly not a benefit for taxpayers.