Ark Valley News - Open meetings critical

Open meetings critical
Last Updated: July 12, 2018

I believe in studying political candidates before giving them my vote. One of the best avenues to see candidates in action is at a live debate. On June 8, I attended the live debate of the Sedgwick County commissioner candidates for the Republican primary. The debate was held at the Petroleum Club in downtown Wichita. It was clear from the start, due to the table selection of candidate Nicks, who his allies were. Nicks was surrounded by the “downtown handout club."

I arrived at the debate early, so I had an opportunity to access candidate Nicks and ask him a few questions, one on one. He approached my table with literature in hand and we introduced ourselves. (I can easily access Commissioner Richard Ranzau early on Friday mornings at Leeker's deli or mid-morning at his Valley Center location on Fridays.) I asked candidate Nicks about his military deferments and other questions that were addressed later in the debate. Nick's quotes in this letter can be verified as the debate was recorded live and are available on the Internet.

At introduction, Richard Ranzau addressed his background, military service, education, family values and accomplishments. The first question that was garnered from the host Pachyderm membership was of Nicks and what he would do differently than what Richard Ranzau had been doing. Nicks said he would be less divisive than Ranzau, in that he would not disagree in a public meeting with the other commissioners and “show a united front." Nicks continued by saying, “If in our business when we had closed-door meetings, we argue about how we move forward, in our, in our business, we didn't go out in front of our employees afterward and act the same way we did back behind closed doors."

Whoa!!!! I thought, as I looked around the room and saw most of the crowd in jaw-dropping shock. This is open, transparent government? Back in the 1980s as a chief of police, I was schooled in a law called the Kansas Open Meetings Act (Kansas Law 75-7317). It is important that there be a discussion in public, even if it is “divisive." The introduction to the KOMA law has an explanation for why the act was implemented decades ago. It states “In recognition of the fact that a representative government is dependent upon an informed electorate, it is declared to be the policy of this state that meetings for the conduct of governmental affairs and the transaction of governmental business be open to the public."

Many times while watching the Sedgwick County Commission meeting on Channel 8.1, I have heard Commissioner Ranzau say, “I know we have had a staff report on this item, but I think it needs to be discussed in open meeting."

After hearing this debate, it is abundantly clear who my choice will be. It will be the guy who served his country with pride in the U.S. Army, it will be the guy who asks questions of staff before just rubber-stamping costly projects, it will be the guy who heeds the Kansas Open Meeting Act and doesn't subscribe to backroom deals and that guy is Richard Ranzau.

— Kelly Parks, rural Valley Center