Accountability and Accessibility

By Marilyn Hyland

I will make the county government more responsive to the citizens.

As a county commissioner, my focus will be on the citizens of Hamilton County, not my political or corporate ambitions. For too long, the county commission has been controlled as a private business. Too much of our public business is being conducted behind closed doors. By the time our commissioners vote on issues involving our money, the actual decision has already been made.

The current commissioners have proven they cannot be trusted to make decisions with the citizens' best interest in mind. The most outrageous example is the Bengals' stadium contract. The commissioners gave half of our prime downtown riverfront to a team that will play just ten home games per year. In addition, the county guaranteed the Bengals a minimum of 50,000 seats per game for two years. In other words, it doesn't matter how poorly the team might play, we, the taxpayers, are responsible for covering the cost of any unsold seats!

And that's not all. The commissioners have tied the reconstruction of Fort Washington Way and surrounding roads to the completion of the Paul Brown Stadium. If the stadium is not completed by August of the year 2000, the citizens will pay a penalty while the Bengals play free-of-charge in Cinergy Field!

As a county commissioner, I will bring citizens to the table of county government. I intend to initiate a "commissioners' night in" at locations around the county to enable as many citizens as possible to participate in county government. Whenever necessary, I will make house calls to get a first-hand understanding of the issues facing our citizens.