A finger on the city's pulse

T

he thing about government is this: When it isn't doing a good job, taxpayers and residents make their feelings known. That's a given.

This is important to remember when it comes to Clearfield's recent decision to spend $8,400 on a professionally conducted survey of the city's residents.

While we believe the impulse to find out what's on residents' minds is a good one -- government should always be pro-active when it comes to soliciting comments -- it seems to us that spending money on a professional survey is unnecessary.

It's not so much the $8,400 we object to; although that amount of funding is relatively low, given the kinds of tax money cities spend for other items in a given year, we believe there are other, better options.

First, the city, if it does not already, should be publicizing its own Web site -- www.clearfieldcity.org/ -- via monthly utility bills and any other communication the city has with its residents.

The Web site, for those who've visited it, makes it simple, through the "contact us" link, to send e-mail messages to various elected leaders and city staff. If Clearfield residents have concerns or praise or ideas, they can easily e-mail those along to the city.

There's also a commonly used item called a telephone. Clearfield's main number is 525-2700.

They may work bankers' hours, but they're accessible. And when we've called them, they've been easy to reach.

And if you don't like using the phone or don't have an Internet connection, write a letter the old-fashioned way and mail it to City of Clearfield, 55 So. State St., Clearfield, UT 84015. They'll get it and respond.

Now, if there comes a time when there's a burning issue in Clearfield that needs settling by public input from the whole city, maybe a professional survey would be a good option.

But we think the current practice of holding public meetings and gathering input in the more traditional ways makes sense.

And this goes for more than Clearfield, of course. That's the way all communities should approach the subject.

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