Why this matters now
Boone County is one of the fastest-growing counties in Indiana. As the population grows, so does the budget, the number of decisions in front of the council, and the consequences of getting them wrong. When growth outpaces transparency, residents lose track of where their money is going — and that's when trust erodes.
Transparency is the simplest, cheapest thing a council can offer the people who pay for it. It costs nothing to post an agenda on time. It costs nothing to explain a vote in plain English. It just requires a council member who thinks the work belongs to the public.
Where I'd focus
- Council agendas posted with enough notice that residents can actually read them and show up if they want to.
- Plain-language summaries of what each vote does and what it costs — not just the line-item numbers.
- Recorded votes that are easy to find on the county website. No public-records request required to see how I voted.
- Regular, open office hours in District 4 — a standing time and place where neighbors can ask anything.
- An explanation, on the record, for every vote I take that affects the county's budget or tax rate.
What good transparency looks like
It looks like a neighbor finding a vote in under a minute, reading what it did in plain English, and knowing exactly who voted which way. It looks like a budget conversation that happens in daylight, with real time to absorb the numbers before they're locked in. It looks like a council that treats residents as the audience, not as a problem to manage.