By state Jack O’Malley of Lake Ann 

The people of Michigan want a more open and transparent model of government. It’s often communicated to us as representatives when we sit down and talk with residents about what they would like to see in Lansing.

I wanted to implement this notion within my position as chair of the House Transportation Committee. It is something I’ve believed in from the start of my first legislative term, traveling around the state to over 20 town hall events to talk with drivers and local officials about their roads and what would be effective to help get them fixed.

The governor recently announced her own idea at her State of the State address in January – borrowing $3.5 billion in bond sales in upcoming years to fund repairs on state-owned highways. It’s easy to pick apart her plan – an “impatient” one by her own admission – for not addressing the local roads that make up the vast majority of the state’s infrastructure and are in the most need of repair. But it’s a separate issue from the need to hold public hearings in the face of unilateral action.

The 13 members on our committee represent residents throughout the state from southeast Michigan to just south of Traverse City. It was imperative to have a process that allows those residents to have their voice heard through representation. The State Transportation Commission’s approval of the bond sales came a little over 12 hours after the governor revealed her idea. Most Michigan residents were asleep for most of that time between. That’s not a transparent process that respects taxpayers.

I called two meetings of the House Transportation Committee to bring together state departments and stakeholders to discuss what bonding would mean for our state, its roads and its future. This was not the sort of intensive, hours-long grill session you’d see on C-SPAN. It was merely a commitment to a model of open government. Our office phones and social media pages were busy with feedback and questions on the proposal, and we could effectively relay those thoughts to the people who will be directly involved in its implementation with these hearings. That’s representation at work.

As was conveyed in testimony, the governor has every legal right to make the decision she did. But as representatives, we had every obligation to be a conduit to the people.

The bonding decision has now been made. We’ll have many years of debt payments to make – on top of debt payments from bonding decisions made years ago – and we still must work to deliver a meaningful solution to get our local roads fixed. But the pivotal principle of being the people’s voice should never be overlooked, and I don’t intend to.

Rep. Jack O’Malley, of Lake Ann, is in his first term in the Michigan House serving residents in the 101st District, which includes Leelanau, Benzie, Manistee and Mason counties.