In tragic life, God wot,

No villain need be! Passions spin the plot:

We are betrayed by what is false within.

&045; George Meredith, 1828-1909, Modern Love

Appalled! Disgusted! Betrayed!

Those are the words that describe my reaction to last week’s announcements and ensuing passionate debate about Paul Sparks and his pending job changes. You don’t have to be a long-time resident of this community to see the unfairness of the way these decisions are being made; I don’t think you even have to live within the city’s borders &045; what happens in Albert Lea affects all of this county’s residents.

How dare important decisions like this be taken care of without prior notification of the citizens of Albert Lea! How dare city officials make deals and plans at secret meetings! Whatever the &uot;legality&uot; of the situation, the spirit of openness that needs to dominate public decision-making has been violated. This is not an issue of ideology &045; of partisan politics &045; it’s about transparency in public governance.

Even though I wrote last week’s column about Mr. Sparks the Saturday before it was printed (long before the restructuring plans were announced), I stand by what I said about him; I still see no villains here. But the secretive way these changes are being planned is disturbing, and it undermines the credibility of all those in charge at Albert Lea’s City Center. For the past couple of weeks, people there seem to have relied on the White House as their role model when it comes to being open and honest about what’s really going on.

It’s the loss of credibility that is, for me, the most significant crisis here. Are the city officials and other community leaders involved in Mr. Sparks’ lateral promotion blind to that issue? Now that we’ve seen them making important decisions away from the public’s eye, behind closed doors, how can we trust them when they hold public hearings about anything in the future? When they say that citizens will be included in decisions about the use of the Farmland site, the construction of a new library, or the future direction of Albert Lea’s economic development, why should we believe them?

The message sent by the secrecy involved in last week’s developments is that the important decisions will be made elsewhere, away from the eyes and ears of the people, by the important few who can be trusted. It colors those involved in an extremely poor light: as elitist leaders from the &uot;good-old-boy/girl&uot; school of public administration.

Aside from making it more difficult to trust those involved, the tainted process also interferes with my ability to evaluate the restructuring scheme on its own merits, a problem for others as well, if letters to the editor are an indication of public thinking. Will splitting the Port Authority from the City Council benefit the community? When was the last time the Port Authority was audited or evaluated? Will having a full-time director make a difference when it comes to economic development? Will the board appointed by the Council to govern the Port Authority conduct its business in public, or will they follow the example that led to its creation and operate in stealth and secrecy?

One example I look to for a vision of what might be in the works is the New York Port Authority, originally set up by the states of New York and New Jersey, but without any public oversight. That Port Authority, which built and managed the World Trade Center, has been an engine for economicdevelopment for the whole region; however, it is also a secretive institution, making many important decisions without any public involvement.

Before any other decisions are made about Mr. Sparks or the Port Authority, more of the

process needs to be opened up to the public. We need to know more about the Port Authority and its precise role in the community now, and what role it is likely to have in the future, under the leadership of Paul Sparks and an independent board of directors.

With $8 million in assets, the Port Authority plays too important a role in our future for decision-making to be curtained off, with information provided only when those in charge think we need to be told anything.

(David Rask Behling is a rural Albert Lea resident. His column appears on Tuesdays.)