A letter to the editor in Tuesday's Butler Eagle questioned the county commissioners' policy of holding all of their regular meetings during the business day, when most people cannot attend because of work responsibilities.

The letter suggested that the commissioners change their meetings to a time when more residents are likely to attend.

Even if the commissioners are opposed to holding all of their meetings in the evening, they should at least establish a policy whereby the meetings at which they introduce and discuss the subsequent year's proposed budget, as well as the meeting at which they adopt the budget, are evening sessions - whether or not a tax increase is part of the budget agenda.

Meanwhile, the commissioners should hold at least one town hall-type meeting a year at which the commissioners review all important issues on which they are working and allow residents to comment on any county business-related topic that they choose. Prior to those meetings - budget and town hall - they should make an extra effort to publicize that those sessions will be held.

At least the town hall sessions should be held at different locations in the county, perhaps one in Saxonburg, one in Cranberry, one in Butler and one in Slippery Rock. Residents of all sections of the county then could have the assurance that county government would come to them at least once during each couple of years.

The commissioners have no qualms about seeking votes in those areas; they should be equally eager to give the people whose support they desire the chance to witness the way in which they do their jobs.

Tuesday's letter to the editor says "all in all, Butler County's budget process inhibits public input, review and scrutiny. This is apparent from the rushed timetable during which the budget is pushed through - the last three weeks of the year, when people are focused on Christmas and New Year's, not the county budget.

"It is also apparent from the time the commissioners' meetings are held - when it is least convenient for most citizens."

Even if the meetings in question do not attract one person, the commissioners will have at least made an attempt to make county government more accessible. They will be able to react to complaints and criticism by pointing out that residents had been given the opportunity to express their opinions and to try to influence the commissioners' decisions but ignored the opportunity.

Such a response currently is not available to county leaders.

It is often said that people who don't vote have no grounds to complain if the "wrong candidate" is elected. But elected officials who do not encourage public participation have no grounds to assume that what they are doing is embraced by the majority of people whom they were elected to serve.

The tax-increase proposal for 2005 is an issue that deserved more public comment in an open-meeting format than it received. However, holding meetings at a time that is not convenient for most working people doesn't facilitate such discussion.

It's too late to schedule an evening meeting regarding the 2005 budget, but it's not too late to schedule a town hall meeting or meetings for next year and to plan for evening sessions for the 2006 budget.

County residents can consider themselves as having been slighted if the commissioners balk at being more public-attendance friendly.

Everything the commissioners do affects county residents' wallets and pocketbooks. The commissioners' salaries, paid by those same taxpayers, give residents the right to the accessibility that varying meeting times offers.

- J.R.K.