Last night, Green Bay leaders gathered at city hall, and department by department went through the upcoming budget. It was a thoughtful discussion and demonstrated a kind of cooperation that is almost unheard of these days when it comes to government on any level.

And no one showed up to offer input.

Seriously. The committee opened up the floor. And for about 30 uncomfortable seconds, no one decided to speak.

In fact, the only people at that meeting besides me were a couple of other government employees.

This was such a blown opportunity for Green Bay residents. You had the Mayor, members of the council, and directors from each department, looking forward and making money decisions. And no one showed up.

And unlike a common council meeting, where agendas can get stuffed and patience can become short, this joint finance committee hearing was conversational.

This also wasn’t the first time where the public has stayed home instead of getting involved. Earlier this month, there was a listening session with alders that went mostly unattended (story HERE).

The good news is that the committee and all of the departments were very fair with their proposals and any increases were answered. Heck, even questions about decreases in spending had to be explained in some cases.

What needs to be the takeaway from this post is involvement. Very seldom are communities given the opportunity to steer a budget this way. Its hard to believe, but some local governments are so over ran by special interests that these kind of opportunities don’t exist anymore. Those are the tragedies that take place after this kind of absence.

We have to work to make sure that doesn’t ever happen here.