As Sunshine Week comes to a close, let&8217;s review once again the two areas Albert Lea governments could improve:

– Get rid of the Albert Lea City Council&8217;s preagenda meetings.

– Get rid of the Albert Lea school board&8217;s pre-meeting workshops.

People have a right to know, but when leaders hold meetings with a quorum of leaders outside of regular meetings, it should be viewed as suspicious. What happens is the government meetings become dog-and-pony shows, rather than the actual forums for debates that they should be.

What&8217;s interesting is many Albert Lea residents agree that these meetings should be discarded. And there are elected officials who also think they should be discarded. Yet no one wants to take the necessary action.

What&8217;s foolish is the argument for keeping them. It usually is something like: &8220;Well, this gives the elected officials a chance to speak freely, without so much public scrutiny.&8221;

That&8217;s about as asinine of an argument that can be made. It advocates cowardice. People elect leaders so they can lead, not hide in secrecy. This is America, not China. Democracy functions best in the sunshine. Let people hear the discussions. How can voters follow what leaders say if their meetings happen in less-than-public conditions.

Sure, the preagenda meetings and school board workshops are open to the public, but they are pointless because everything that happens at them easily could be conducted in the full view of public scrutiny at regular meetings, when minutes are taken and in the city&8217;s case the cameras are on. And they are meetings that remove the discussion aspect from the regular meetings. They are like dress rehearsals, but government shouldn&8217;t operate like scripted theater. That&8217;s not what voters want.

As long as these meetings exist, this newspaper will continue to push for their extinction.

Happy Sunshine Week.