Why Searching the Emails is Made Easy...

The reason for the extensive work spent to facilitate the search of the City of Marco Island's emails are as follows:

• the public has a right to know
  
• the public has a right to know how their government works - good or bad
  
• the emails are being made available to all in an easy to use manner as a public service
• all citizens can search for and read the emails so they can make their own informed decisions
  
• the people believing that the city management and the city council can do no wrong or are doing an excellent job have to be proud to make these emails public
• the people believing that the city management and the city council can do a better job, can potentially validate their position with these emails, or may change their minds!
• again, the public has a right to know

Some Facts:

• all of the emails are in a database accessible via the web (use the button on top of this blog entitled SEARCH CITY EMAILS!
  
• the database is designed and programmed to facilitate and expedite complex queries
• exceedingly difficult to develop especially given how the emails were produced by the city
• the emails did not come with attachments and some were clearly edited
• there are approximately 9,000 emails - over 528,000 lines - over 2,541,000 words - all indexed and searchable

The public in a democratic society has the absolute right to know all of the details of the government they have empowered. The government can not impugn such right or those that exercise that right. In all governments across the country, albeit a small municipality, a city, a state or even the federal government, citizen oversight is encouraged and welcomed - irrespective of the motives of some. It is unclear if the present denizens of city hall and the elected "representatives" welcome this facet of a free democracy.

It is up to the this city management and this city council to reveal if this basic tenet of a democratic republic is embraced in part by virtue of these emails being accessible to all and therefore welcome the oversight. Or will the city repudiate these efforts and besmirch or malign those of us that worked to make this recorded history public. The former is hoped for.