WEAKLEY COUNTY GOVERNMENT REMAINS COMMITTED TO TRANSPARENCY: WE'LL TELL YOU HOW - SEPT. 2019

Don’t you love to get a call from an old friend who you haven’t heard from in a while? I know that I do. I love to hear what is happening, reconnect, and communicate what is going on in my world. Wouldn’t it be nice to get a call from your Weakley County Government?  Let’s be clear – this is the Weakley County Courthouse calling.  Your personal, unique “call” from the county: this is the theme of this new monthly section. Uniquely Weakley is a standing monthly appointment with your county government to talk about various topics that affect each one of us, directly or indirectly.

In this section, we will seize the opportunity to separate the facts from the fiction and provide Weakley County’s citizens with the reality of various aspects of Weakley County local government. You may get news directly from County Mayor Jake Bynum in this section from time to time. So let’s get started: let’s kick off this first installment of our monthly meet-up by discussing transparency in local county government.

I stumbled upon a quote recently with resounding truth: “If transparency in government is not ethics, then I don’t know what is.” – Frank Gibson, Public Policy Director for the Tennessee Associated Press.

Transparency in government is a fundamental component of democracy. Encouraging Weakley County Citizens to take an active role in the governmental process empowers all residents to take part in the decisions that affect lives and the future. When a government is fully transparent, all matters are conducted in the open and all citizens have equal availability to obtain information as it is needed. Public documents, public records, budgets, figures, facts, meeting dates, meeting notices, agendas, minutes, resolutions – all of this information is already equally available for all citizens in the county. But do our citizens know that this information is available? If not, how can we best communicate that this information is accessible?

In the spirit of reinforcing our commitment to transparency and open government, and with the goal of providing insight on how to find this information, below is a quick listing on how to retrieve information related to Weakley County Government:

• Open meetings:  All Weakley County Government meetings are open to the public. Meetings are posted on the Weakley County Website Calendar, sent to the media, and posted on the public notice board in the county courthouse. The public is always invited and encouraged to attend.
• County budget information is always available. Find information about county budgets by contacting the Weakley County Office of the Mayor, the Weakley County Department of Finance, or take a look at the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury’s Website. Have a question but not sure where to look or who to ask? Call the County Mayor’s Office: (731) 364-5413.
• The Weakley County Website houses a wealth of information on departments (located on the navigation bar on every web page) the county commission, elected and appointed officials contacts, subcommittees, and much more.  Maps are also an important element to county government transparency. The Weakley County Emergency Management web pages contains city and county topography maps, digital elevation maps, ESN and flood maps, and voting district maps.
• Agendas, minutes, resolutions, and meeting dates are also all available online. The Weakley County Mayor’s office is currently working in partnership with the Tennessee College of Applied Technology to upload and house archived subcommittee and commission minutes and resolutions. Look for more archived documents to be added soon.
• Weakley County’s media outlets are important partners for Weakley County Government.  Our local newspapers and radio help us to spread the word about upcoming meetings, as well as to help inform citizens about important content and the outcome of decisions that affect all of us. Weakley County Government is in constant communication with the media, and our county is blessed with the most skilled and talented media individuals in the business.
• Weakley County Government also utilizes social media. Connect with us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/weakleycounty; On Twitter: @weakleycountytn, and on Instagram: weakleycountytn

Weakley County Government knows that transparency in government is an essential expectation of our citizens. Important goals for Weakley County Government include providing information to help individuals gain a better understanding of the inner workings of their government, increasing civic participation in the governmental process, and subsequently creating a unique opportunity to most effectively serve the needs of every person in Weakley County.

Engage with us: Do you have question about transparency? How can we be more transparent? Do you have a general question and you’re not sure who to ask? Give us a call at the Weakley County Office of the Mayor at (731) 364-5413, or contact us here.
Until next time, stay #UniquelyWeakley.

Author

Erica Miller Moore is the Communications Director for Weakley County Government. Contact at (731) 364-5413.