To the Honorable Mayor and City Councilmen (see below)

Ken Palmer for Brea City Treasurer

[v] Vote Yes to Government Accountability

[v] Vote No to Higher Taxes

Ken’s Pledge:

I promise to be of service to the people of Brea. I will help the City Council to be wise stewards of our funds, by seeking to “tighten our belts” and balance the budget.

Ken’s experience in Corporate America and CPA / MBA education help him to understand more options available to increase City efficiency and productivity without raising taxes.

Non-deductible contributions to defray campaign costs are greatly appreciated.
Make checks payable to Ken Palmer for Treasurer to 275 Morning Glory St.

Organizations Served: City of Placentia Financial Oversight Committee, North Orange County Leadership Institute, Brea Chamber of Commerce, Park Paseo HOA, Brea Foundation, Knights of Columbus, Brea Soccer Association, St Angela Merici.



To the Honorable Mayor and City Councilmen:

October 7, 2008

Last week I was able to attend the Budget meeting held at the Museum. I applaud the City’s effort to raise awareness of the budget process. It does need to be a collaborative effort. One of the hand-written notes Mike Messina posted during a morning brain-storming session read: “TRANSPARENCY”.

I think this a very important concept, one that needs to be understood and implemented. Webster’s definition of the word “transparent” includes - something “characterized by visibility or accessibility of information”. The City of Brea “information system” is used to measure costs, evaluate budgets and identify variances. In order to make wise and informed decisions this data needs to be more visible and accessible.

I propose that the City Council and the City Treasurer, along with appropriate staff personnel be granted online “read-only” access to the financial and accounting database. Of course, our vaunted tech people would proscribe the proper security clearances, passwords, and confidentiality which must be maintained. Perhaps a task-force could be set-up to perform a feasibility study.

Implementation of this concept while not easy, should not be difficult or costly, and it would yield many real benefits. If the City truly means what it says about TRANSPARENCY, the Council will direct the Staff to evaluate and report upon “on-line read-only” access.


Sincerely,


Kenneth M. Palmer


CC: submitted for recording to Lucinda Williams, City Clerk