mike media

Cooperation

Editorial
(Written by Michael Gerhardt)

April 22, 1993
Arctic Sounder

Maniilaq Association's Board of Directors had a regularly scheduled board meeting last Friday and Saturday.

During those two days, the board met for a total of about 11 hours. The public was invited to attend only three and a half of those hours. For more than two-thirds of the time the board was together to conduct its business, it met in executive session, closed session or in a meeting of the personnel committee.

When the board voted to go into a closed session for several hours Saturday morning, the only person who was asked to leave was a member of the press. The board, Maniilaq's top administrators and managers, its lawyer, and its consultant all stayed for the closed session to discuss detailed financial information.

The decisions Maniilaq is making during this critical period will affect almost every resident of the NANA region. Maniilaq is here to provide services to the public and should be held accountable by the public for the actions they take and the decisions they make. The public must be able to have access to the same information Maniilaq's leaders are using to make their decisions.

During the board meeting, Maniilaq's financial consultant presented the board with a financial overview of the first six months of the organization's fiscal year. Soon after the brief presentation, the board voted to go into closed session. One would hope they were presented with a more detailed financial picture than they received during open session.

But why did the board not want the public to have access to the same information they were getting? Why did Maniilaq not provide a breakdown of expenses for the senior center like they did for every other major program?

The board says it is committed to making Maniilaq a healthy organization so it can continue to provide important and essential services to the people of the NANA region. As it makes these decisions, the public should be allowed to share and understand many of the important details that Maniilaq is currently not providing.