Title: Transparency Can’t Be the First Casualty of a New Term
Author: Mike McCool
Published: January 4, 2026, 12:26 PM
Publisher: Royal Examiner
Category: Local Government
Type: Commentary
Summary
The article warns that Warren County’s newly adopted Legal Services Transparency and Review Policy is already at risk of being undermined, as the Board plans to begin its first meeting of the new term with a closed session vaguely justified as legal consultation on “meeting policy and procedures.” It argues this directly contradicts both FOIA and the spirit of the policy, which was designed to ensure that legal advice shaping public policy is documented, narrowly shielded when necessary, and publicly accountable. The piece urges the Board to debate any changes to the policy in open session, emphasizing that retreating into private deliberations so early in the term signals a troubling reversal of the transparency standards it just embraced.
Thoughts
This piece raises important questions about transparency, but it approaches them primarily at the level of intent and symbolism rather than mechanics. Whether a meeting is open or closed is only one part of a much larger system. What ultimately determines accountability is how decisions are documented, how records are created, and how exceptions are justified and tracked over time.
FOIA already provides a legal framework for when confidentiality is appropriate. The challenge is not simply enforcing openness, but ensuring that the processes surrounding disclosure, recordkeeping, and legal consultation are designed in a way that produces clear, reliable, and durable public records. Poorly designed transparency systems can create just as much confusion and risk as excessive secrecy.
In any complex organization, the quality of governance depends on how well its workflows are engineered. Transparency is not just about visibility—it’s about building systems that support accuracy, consistency, and meaningful oversight without encouraging workarounds or unintended vulnerabilities.
