To the editor:

Following is a copy of a letter sent this week to members of the Salem City Council:

On June 27, 2009, the Alliance of Salem Neighborhood Associations convened a special meeting to discuss significant concerns regarding recently proposed changes to the Section 2-2026-202033 of the municipal code, commonly known as the "Sunshine Ordinance."

The Sunshine Ordinance, as approved by the City Council in September 2005, requires the city to post meeting schedules, meeting agendas, legal notices, bids, RFPs, RFQs and all city reports and filings made by the city. Additionally, it provides a facility for citizens to sign up to receive automatic e-mail notifications of scheduled meetings, with agendas, for all governing bodies, and requires the posting of meeting minutes within nine days of the meeting. These components have provided the City of Salem with transparency in government, a modern sensibility to our open meeting laws and easy access for all citizens to be engaged and involved in the governmental process.

Recently, significant changes have been proposed to the ordinance, including removing the e-mail subscription service for meeting agendas, changing the requirement for meeting minutes from 9 days to 47 days, and eliminating the requirement to post city contracts and required legal reports.

Those present at the Alliance of Salem Neighborhood Associations meeting voted unanimously in favor (with one abstention) for the motion that "The Alliance of Salem Neighborhood Associations stands strongly in support of the Sunshine Ordinance as approved on September 8, 2005, and urges increased transparency, recourse and citizen participation in city government. We respectfully request the City of Salem to fully implement the ordinance as it stands."

We will further urge our members and member associations to stand with the Alliance of Salem Neighborhood Associations in support of the Sunshine Ordinance as approved September 8, 2005, to attend the City Council meeting July 9, 2009, at 6 p.m., and to contact the city councilors by phone and ask that no changes be made to the Sunshine Ordinance.

Maggie Lemelin Towne

Administrative Coordinator

Alliance of Salem Neighborhood Associations, Salem