Out Loud: July 11, 2019

I fell into local journalism. I am the accidental journalist. Why? I was filling a void at local city council meetings. No one was digging into what was really going on with companies doing business with the city or who was being appointed to various committees and commissions.
Only surface information was being reported and that was a problem. The more I investigated, the more I found.
One of my best stories came from a citizen commenting about how votes at a meeting were not tallied properly. The final vote count was more than what was possible.
Sounds simple, right? Let me tell you, that comment led to a very complex story.
I didn’t go into this business to win a popularity contest — trust me!
I believe that it is the job of journalists to be the fourth (and unofficial) check and balance of the government. Journalists are here to call out the government when they overstep. We are here to serve the people so that you can make the best decisions possible before, during and after elections.
There are eight government-run agencies on our mountain. Eight! And four of the eight agencies are water districts. Water is big topic, not only because of safety, but also price increases and how the funds are being spent.
The people elected to office need to respect the people who pay the bills — the taxpayers.
I was fortunate to meet quite a few of you at last week’s meeting. The topics of conversation were intriguing and established many questions that need to be answered.
I hope the group that attended continues to attend and that many more of you join the Wednesday morning meetings.
Please continue to make your voices heard!