tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060586523627520040.post8992751102859896609..comments2024-01-21T18:21:57.720-08:00Comments on Shining a Light on Germantown: I LOVE Germantown, Tennessee!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060586523627520040.post-78599292219014408052016-07-12T15:19:38.623-07:002016-07-12T15:19:38.623-07:00In the interest of full disclosure, I am Sarah Wil...In the interest of full disclosure, I am Sarah Wilkerson Freeman and feel it is time to begin laying out why I have spent years studying Germantown government from the inside. I am a trained professional historian with an MA and PhD from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. My published work has brought me close to the inner workings of various southern state and local governments. I never imagined that I would be applying those skills to a current and on-going municipal government, but once I began to see the failures in the system, and how real people were hurt by unnecessary uses of power, I could not turn away. This has been an extremely hard endeavor. I feel great sympathy for the government employees and officials who have become caught up in situations that could have been rectified. All human beings are flawed. Period. And that is why citizens have the responsibility to examine their governments because, in the final analysis, it is people who run our governments. <br />I see this corrosive dynamic as a simple historical force. It is why we have systems of checks and balances. In the case of Germantown, our systems of checks and balances, especially our systems of internal controls, have been deliberately broken and kept ineffectual. But that can be and must be changed. Sunshine is the cure. For that reason, I have used the TN Open Records laws to see behind the curtain and what I have found is pretty stunning. The good news is that this campaign for sunshine should bring about very positive changes and save the taxpayers of Germantown quite a lot of money. This is first and foremost a constructive effort.<br />The first thing that needs to happen is to show and discuss what has been going on. Then the remedies become clear. Over the next few weeks, various aspects of Germantown government practices will be examined. I have no interest in vendettas. While I have been targeted and demeaned for my activities, that treatment has only taught me that I have a thicker skin than I knew. This is about what public documents show. And these documents belong to the people. <br />The Commercial Appeal has begun to use the documents that my friend Jon Thompson and I have insisted that the City make available to the public. There is much more to the story that is beginning to emerge. There is a bit of a learning curve, but the people are not stupid and they can handle knowing the business of their City. Indeed, it is long overdue. The factions do not need to exist. The issues are not about who supports who or who likes who. The issue is about how best to run the City--honestly and fairly. <br />It is time to reinstate the requirements of the Charter. If the Board of Mayor and Aldermen approve the salaries and benefits of all employees as it requires, then the public should be able to know exactly what those figures are and what they are for. Who gets what and why. The Personnel Advisory Commission and Aldermen have been kept ignorant of the manipulation of salaries and benefits. If the BMA demands a clear and public explanation of all the City’s salaries and benefits, that would be a very good start.<br />Pauline, thank you for creating this opportunity.<br />Sarah Freemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16544646873565050038noreply@blogger.com