No one would think that Pocomoke and Ocean Pines have much in common, separated as they are by a fair amount of distance, demographics and form of government.
But it turns out this week that these two otherwise disparate communities share one thing: they both have had to confront legal problems over unmet financial obligations.
In addition, both these debt situations resulted from mistakes or misunderstandings rather than malfeasance and both are dealing with them publicly and in a straightforward manner.
In Pocomoke’s instance, it isn’t the town, but the Delmarva Discovery Center that found itself in trouble over an unpaid bill from the contractor that put together one of its exhibits. At dispute is the amount being charged, and perhaps the terms of the contract, but not the fact that the center will have to make good somehow.
More interesting is that the center’s president, Stacey Weisner, made the story public in the interest of operational transparency. Getting out in front of the story like she did takes much of the sting out of the circumstances.
Similarly, the Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors found itself obligated to an expensive golf cart lease authorized without the full board’s knowledge, apparently, by a previous board member. Rather than attempt to deal with the matter quietly, the directors discussed it publicly and agreed to a solution in an open session.
That’s the way it ought to be done, because it stops cold the biggest threat to good government once a story starts to leak out — the inevitably wrong public speculation about what really happened.
So yes, mistakes were made and will be corrected, end of story, and it’s because of the laudable fashion in which they were handled.
If every government or institution was as open and upfront about their predicaments as these two have been, the public might have a better appreciation of the demands they have to meet.