To the editor:

As a voting resident of Cache County, I would like to request that the members of the Cache County Council vote to not go into an executive session at their meeting Tuesday to discuss the appointment of a new Cache County Attorney.

The best government is government that is done in full public light, and although Utah’s open meeting laws allow the County Council to adjourn to an executive session to discuss the professional competency of the two candidates for this appointment, they are not bound by said law. With the position of county attorney being an elected position carrying great power and responsibility, the voting public of this community are owed the privilege of knowing the rationale behind the eventual appointment.

At Tuesday’s meeting, after candidates Joe Chambers and James Swink have been introduced and interviewed in front of the public, there will be a vote on whether the council should adjourn to an executive session, allowing the council to gather in a back room to privately discuss the pros and cons of each man. Much as the pros and cons of candidates are aired in public during an election, the reasoning behind this appointment should be discussed in full view of anyone who is interested, not the least of whom being Swink and Chambers themselves, as well as the media and the public.

Moreover, each member of the council should be held accountable for the reasoning behind their vote, and the people who elected them to their own positions of power deserve to know why they are making the decision they are making with such an important appointment.

I request that any member of the Cache County Council who believes in democracy and who wishes to stand up for honest, clean, fair and transparent government, to respectfully vote “nay” on the motion to adjourn to an executive session. It will only take three of the seven members of the council to prevent the executive session from happening, as it requires a two-thirds vote. I would like to believe that at least three out of the seven councilmembers will stand up for what is right.