Openness and Transparency

Frank La Fountain’s campaign letter received yesterday contained a lot of complaints, most of them in sharp contrast to my experience with UCO and David Israel. Frank, you call for a “completely transparent UCO.” Do you not read the Information Forward e-mails that Dave sends out, often within hours, after every UCO meeting, providing all the issues discussed? We never got these reports before.

Dave has also called for more open UCO meetings and the publication of meeting notices. He initiated an open bidding process for contractors and vendors for the first time in Century Village. It’s hard to imagine an administration that could be more open, forthcoming or more active in getting information out to delegates.

David started the first President’s Meetings – not the so-called “Presidents Meetings” that last week invited you and Frank Cornish to speak but neglected to invite David as the third candidate running for UCO President. At David’s Presidents meetings, 10-12 delegates at a time get to talk about their concerns in a small-group environment that encourages candor. At the meeting I attended, David listened and responded honestly, acknowledging that there were issues that UCO could and would handle better in the future.

At Delegates Meetings, David announced a few months ago a process to create more order, reduce disruptions and give everyone a chance to speak. He has adhered to time limits for audience comments and reduced significantly the rancor that used to be far more commonplace. If you’d like to see more done to improve UCO meetings, I’m sure your concrete suggestions would be welcomed.

As for UCO offices, the atmosphere is much improved compared to what it was before David took office. We also have to recognize that volunteer UCO staff deal with complex residents’ problems and even more complex by-laws and guidelines. It’s a tough job and we can do our part to be clear in our questions and patient with the process that leads to solutions. I’ve heard accusations of outbursts of anger directed toward another UCO officer, not David.

You mention that you were refused a list of delegates that attended the last three meetings. David had every right to voice his opinion that this was an invasion of privacy, and the delegates had every right to vote their disagreement – they voted not to release their names. And if this list is public information available at SUNBIZ.org, then what was the problem? Being invited back to UCO offices to discuss the fine points of budget issues seems very reasonable. I hope you took Ed up on his offer and got your questions addressed.

Transparency is alive and well. This is a community of thousands and its delegates hold varied and passionate opinions that they are not hesitant to express. It will never be perfectly harmonious, but it’s impossible to deny that there is more openness, transparency and information exchange since David Israel took office.