My job is to keep the public informed. My job is to raise awareness when there are issues and to help shine light in dark corners. My job is to uncover things that may otherwise go unnoticed. And it’s a job that I take seriously.

A big decision was made in Grandview last week, and the conversations leading up to it took place behind closed doors, without any public input. That’s just not good government.

I get it, sometimes discussions need to happen privately, and information needs to be disseminated in an appropriate manner, before going public sometimes. But, I sincerely believe that had I not been approached by Judge Johnson prior to last week’s vote in time to write a story, that the vast majority of the citizens in Grandview wouldn’t have even known that the fate of our Municipal Court was in the hands of our six elected aldermen.

If we are truly “Building Tomorrow’s Community,” as the City of Grandview would like us to believe, then perhaps we need to come out from behind closed doors and from underneath our desks. Last week, city administration compared Grandview to Lake Tapawingo. With a population of right around 700, Lake Tapawingo is roughly the size of, as Alderman John Maloney put it, Grand Summit apartment complex. Our grand city of 25,000 residents deserves better. And our citizens deserve to have more say in what happens here.

We are better than this. I’m proud to say that our Board of Aldermen voted, in my opinion, the way they should have last week. Grandview’s Municipal Court will stay in Grandview, where it should be, where it has been since well before any of us have been calling the shots in this city.

Citizens have every right, and the responsibility, to speak their minds and to voice their concerns. Be it spoken, or through written word, it’s our job to let our opinions known and our thoughts heard. And, it’s the city’s job to ensure that this happens, regardless of mandates, funded or otherwise.