No videotaping, no peace

Picture this:

Your boss comes in to see you one Monday morning and says he doesn’t like the way things are being done in your department.

He says there’s not enough transparency for the public and he wants to let his customers know exactly how the product is made, so they can trust the company and the product.

He wants to see changes made and he lists very specifically what those changes are. He tells you that you have 30 days to get it done. He means business, so you know you’re going to do it.

Right?

Wrong.

You put up roadblocks and obfuscate and talk about logistics and blah blah blah  blah blah blah blah blah.

Baddabing baddabum. You’re down at the unemployment office hoping he doesn’t contest your claim.

But that’s not how it works in Lebanon.

Referendum 1 to tape all meeting and have them posted to the town website  within seven days was passed OVERWHELMINGLY by voters on June 11 yet the only meeting we’ve seen recorded is one taped by Rosie and Glen Stadig who volunteered their time and equipment.

Referendum 1 gave selectmen 30 days to put what voters demanded, 681-340, a 2-to-1 margin, a landslide, into effect.

Now to their credit, selectmen have invited a couple of folks well-versed in such technology to meetings to find out more about the process.

But heavens to murgatroid, it’s been 30 days. Your time is up. Ms. Gerrish, you used to be a columnist. Did you ever have a deadline? Mr. Cole, if a patient needs a transfusion in 10 minutes or he dies, do you heed the timeframe? Mr. Thompson, if your best customer tells you he needs his car fixed in 30 days, are you going to get it done?

Of course. It’s business. The town is supposed to be run like a business. The town’s customers are all the taxpayers/voters who pay for all the town’s workers’ salaries, including the selectmen, and all the things you buy.

We are your boss. We voted OVERWHELMINGLY to get this done. We want this done, now.

Let me put it simply. You buy a camera. You buy a USB cord. You push the Record. You push the Stop. You download it to You Tube. You put the link on the website. 

As every boss, beset with obstacles and obfuscation and “can’t be dones” and “need more times” has said before, “Make it happen.”

Let me break it down one more time. One camera. One cord. One tripod. Baby steps.

Oh, and you need one more thing.

The will.