Please don’t make us wait.
Except in government.
Government shouldn’t be expedient. It should be methodical.
That doesn’t mean government has to be the slow ketchup or the tortoise every time. Speedy service in line at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles is always a plus.
But it does mean that government has to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s. Government has to know the rules and play by them. Government has to be fair, sometimes painfully fair. And that takes documentation, authorization and deliberation: aboveboard, out in the open, for all to see.
You might want a speedy ruling in your planning board appeal, for instance, but you might not want your neighbor to get an expedient one.
In the matter of zoning laws, the town of Norway has perhaps been lax, which is to say: not painfully fair. Town Manager David Holt has suggested that some townspeople are holding local officials to a higher standard of performance.
Townspeople should insist on things like that.
“We hope that we’re still friendly, but I think we are going to have to be a bit more than a handshake nowadays,” he said, acknowledging that the town had some issues that need to be addressed.
Handshakes and verbal approvals are expedient; written plans as required by ordinances are cumbersome. But without them, government is lost. Norway officials seem to know the rules; after this recent challenge, we believe they will be following them more closely.
In the matter of public access laws, Norway selectmen have spoken in favor of joining neighboring Paris and Oxford boards in a seminar on Maine’s Freedom of Access law. Since this law affects how public meetings are conducted, how documents, discussions and decisions are shared with the public, it’s a good chance to learn or be reminded of the rules.
Townspeople should insist on that, too.
The big question earlier this week seemed not to be the worth of such a seminar, although that came up, but which town would host it. The idea originated in Paris but found more support in Norway.
We hope officials sort that out in record time. In the matter of hosting, at least, expediency is just fine.
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