What Do We Want From Government? Ask Us

Opinion

The year 2006 was a good one for Prince William County.  That’s the year county government worked with its citizens through focus groups and planning teams, and put a lot of thought into what out Community should look like in the future.  They actually asked us what we wanted in a referendum conducted during the special election for the Chairman and Occoquan Supervisor’s seat.

A lot of work went into forming the questions.

You may read the details in an excellent Prince William County Newsletter Special Edition: Information on the 2006 Bond Referendum Questions.

If you dig a bit deeper, you will find the excellent staff presentation given on June 20, 2006 at the meeting of the Board of County Supervisors where the proposed bonds were discussed. I invite your attention to Item 6-W – Work session for the Library, Park, and Road Bond Referendum

The public responded.  All three bond referendums overwhelmingly passed.

This is an example of good governance, and a government that seeks community engagement.

I wonder exactly when Prince William County Government, whether it is the Board of County Supervisors or the School Board, stopped caring what the public wanted?

Battles for our tax dollars are now waged between small, well organized special interest groups and perhaps forces and business interests we will never see.  Regardless of who wins, Prince William County Government will never really know which choice the residents of Prince William County would prefer because they never asked us.

I propose that its time to bring back the referendum process, and start asking the public exactly what we want. 

Because of Prince William County’s off-year election cycle, and recurring requirements for special elections, there are plenty of opportunities to put issues, particularly controversial issues being driven by special interests, to the public for a vote.

I find the swimming pool issue an interesting example.  Special interest groups on both sides are making credible cases for putting a pool in a school, or not.  Politicians on our Board of County Supervisors and School Board, driven perhaps by forces and influence we will never see or understand, are taking sides. 

To the casual observer, this is a contest of wills being waged on social media, blogs, and citizens time.

Perhaps Prince William County, in this case, the Prince William County Board of County Supervisors and the School Board in collaboration, should simply ask the public at large what we want in another well crafted referendum.

I’m not a lawyer.  As of writing this column, I havez not received a response from the Prince William County Attorney’s office regarding information regarding its policy on referendums, or information about how the 2006 referendum came about.  I did go to the Code of Virginia, and offer my understanding of what it says.  Any lawyer reading this is welcome (and encouraged) to correct errors. 

According to the Code of Virginia, it appears either county Government may initiate a Referendum or that “we,” the residents of a locality, may petition to call for a referendum election.  It would appear, from my reading of the Code of Virginia, that county government has broad latitude in the questions it might ask.  The process is spelled out quite nicely in the Code of Virginia for those interested in asking the rest of us a question.

The wildly successful referendum of 2006 demonstrates that when asked, we will respond.

Some “fun questions” might include:

1.  Do you favor Prince William County Parks Department expanding the Chinn Center Swimming Pool?

2.  Do you favor Board of County Supervisors support for the Bi-County Parkway?

3.  Do you support updating or replacing the Prince William County official seal?

I could go on.

I stipulate that these questions may or may not be in the proper form.  They are merely examples.  There are many other ways to gauge the public’s will.  The occasional citizen survey, or online survey comes to mind. 

The Republican Form of Government reflects a time when communication was difficult, we elected folks we trusted knowing we might never actually meet them, and empowered those elected officials to make decisions for us.

In the age of the internet, high-speed communication, social media, blogs, websites, how we communicate with our Government and our community has changed.  Small groups of people operating in their own business, social or personal interests, have outsize influence over our government.  I suggest that perhaps it’s time to put a bit of Democracy back in the system by using the Referendum process and/or modern survey tools to find out exactly what the public at large wants.  

Ask us, and we will tell you.