(This week’s civic education and engagement column from Danville’s The Republican newspaper.)
Hendricks County has changed a lot over the last 25 years, and its local governments have done the same. Just how much change has there been? It probably won’t surprise you to know that voter records are stored digitally. That wasn’t the case when I first ran for office 25 years ago. Back then, voter records were stored on 3×5 index cards in drawers resembling library card catalogs (apologies to anyone too young to recognize either of those objects) and were updated individually by hand. If you voted in the 2000 primary, a county employee pulled out your card, picked up a Bic pen, wrote the date of the primary, and added a D or an R to indicate which ballot you chose. Then they put your card back and picked out the next. That’s exactly how they did it in 2000.
Another big change involves local government employees whose primary roles are in public relations, marketing, and other areas falling under the banner of communications. Few local communities and government agencies had anyone performing that role on a full-time basis back in 2000. Now, some of our communities employ multiple people who focus on keeping you and your neighbors informed. Several government agencies – particularly the ones we call first responders – also have employees whose primary focus is delivering information to you and the media.
Is this change just another example of town and county governments trying to swell their employee headcount so they can raise your taxes? Not at all. There are two primary factors behind these new positions: the rapid increase in the county’s population and a dramatic decrease in local media coverage.
When I started my school board service, reporters from both the Indianapolis Star and the Hendricks County Flyer attended every board meeting and filed stories outlining the actions taken. Occasionally, they were joined by TV news crews. I remember the Star’s Avon bureau having as many as seven local reporters at one point. Their sole job was to keep you and your neighbors informed about what was happening in your community and the next town over.
The Star’s bureau and the Flyer are long gone. If you’re part of the now-tiny group that reads the Star every day, you’ve no doubt noticed the stories they print rarely involve Hendricks County – unless there’s a major accident or a heinous crime. This newspaper and a couple of monthly and semimonthly publications do what they can, but there’s no longer daily in-depth coverage of what’s happening in your community and what all those sneaky elected officials are up to.
It doesn’t mean the appetite for information has disappeared. Social media chatter sites emerged to provide a place for residents to exchange information. Unfortunately, much of what gets posted is incorrect, inaccurate, or just plain untrue. Someone asks a legitimate question and is instantly flooded with replies from people who aren’t nearly as well-informed as they think they are. The people who post conspiracy nonsense and incorrect information typically don’t respond rationally when people who know the truth try to set the record straight.
Recognizing the hunger for knowledge, local government units have added communications professionals to manage their own social media efforts and keep residents informed about what’s happening. They share information about major construction projects, events, new businesses in the community, good things that are happening – all the things residents want to know and would have turned to the local news media to learn 25 years ago. Many are former reporters, so they’re trained to see things through your eyes and make them understandable.
If you have a question or concern about your town, school district, law enforcement agency, or other local government body, don’t post it on a chatter site. First, there’s no guarantee that a local official is going to see it there (do you really want your tax dollars to pay for employees to spend hours monitoring multiple social media chatter sites?). Second, few of the people who respond will actually know the truth, so you’re likely to receive bad or incorrect information. The better approach is to directly call, email, or message the body or agency involved. That way, your question or concern will get to someone who knows and can share the truth. Not only will you learn what you need to know, but you won’t waste time dealing with the jackasses who pair unlimited free time with a compulsion to argue.