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Guest Opinion: Time to focus on local democracy Friday Jan 20, 2017 at 12:01 AM By Marty Breon Jeff Sessions and Pence and Trump. Oh my. Many of us were consumed by national politics last summer and fall, and then we were devastated by election results. We still struggle to cope. What can be done beyond remaining wary and wringing our hands? Many will march and others are joining resistance groups. But what is most productive? President Obama cautions that we not abandon democracy. And he reminds us that it will take work. I suggest that this is a perfect time for us to focus on our local democracy to ensure its vitality. How best can it endure? Ashland has an elegantly simple governmental structure with citizen commissions advising a city council. Our neighbors and friends serve on commissions, making citizen participation about as direct as it can be and giving all of us opportunities to serve in areas of interest and expertise. So how effective is this system? Are commission seats filled by citizens with expertise? Do commissions have the resources required to accomplish their work? Do city staffers assigned to serve the commissioners further their work? Do commission chairs report directly to the City Council? Does the council support the conclusions and recommendations made by the commissions? Affirmative answers to these questions would contribute to the vitality of Ashland’s democratic system. There is, however, a need for watchfulness. The city could designate certain commissions not for advice but merely to absorb and dissipate opposition and thereby protect the council and mayor from controversy. If this were the case, then the council would be likely to second-guess recommendations made by the commissions. Another potential problem is that staff assigned to assist a commission could instead dominate it. In addition, some commissions might not have the resources they need to thoroughly investigate the issue they are charged with. And some commission reports could be filtered through staffers instead of reporting directly to council. Such signs should be alarming and corrective action taken. If some domains can’t be handled by citizen commissions, we need to cut the pretense and put the matters back into the hands of professional engineers and the responsibility fully on the shoulders of the council and mayor. There are encouraging signs. The city councilors all seem to be open to meeting with and listening to their constituents, and one hopes that they have the courage to ask questions and to stand alone in their decisions if that is necessary. Our job is communicating with them and holding their feet to the fire. In addition, Rich Rosenthal’s recent comments in Council Corner that acknowledge the gender imbalance in leadership positions in the city hold promise that a woman will be named to the open council seat. We can hope that well-qualified women have applied and will be given fair consideration. The mayor seems to be making the right moves to increase transparency and improve the tone of dialogue between citizens and the government that serves them. And he is right to be cautious of changes in funding that may result from the tsunami in Washington, D.C. Ashland faces challenges that current resources cannot meet, so smarter spending will be needed to fill some gaps. City leaders must not assume that, just because something appears in public documents and has been discussed in public meetings, the information is both correct and publicly known. There is a systemic problem that must be resolved to ensure civic health: Ashland’s system of having numbered council seats that correspond to nothing. It does nothing for accountability. Nor does it produce the best results. It doesn’t take X-ray vision to see that this encourages double-teaming and back-stabbing. Ashland needs to have open council seats that are filled by the top three vote-getters. Let the best women or men win. There is plenty of time to correct this flawed system by the next election. While a new kind of president reigns from Washington, D.C. — or maybe New York City — and we have so little impact there, let us ensure that democracy is alive and well in Ashland. — Marty Breon lives in Ashland.