Hall County Board chairman Bud Jeffries recently did two things to help the transparency of government. The last item of the news story that detailed the Tuesday supervisor's meeting revealed that Jeffries ordered minutes of all county committee meetings be available to the public except for items that would be protected as a closed-session under Nebraska law. This is something that the Independent has repeatedly called for in the interest of open government. It will cast sunshine on the committee meetings when none was available before. County Attorney Mark Young also agreed with Jeffries' directive.

Jeffries also remedied another awkward and potentially dangerous decision when he directed that no more than three supervisors will be able to sit on any committee. Given that there are only seven supervisors, if four of them are on a committee, then any decision of the committee is virtually guaranteed when the board is required to vote on issues brought forward by the committee. Several committees have four supervisors on them and this will make the process healthier and give room for debate before the full board. Jeffries did a good thing for county government with this directive.

Jeffries deserves a lot of credit for standing up for more open, transparent and effective government with his actions this week. These moves should have happened a long time ago. He removed the cloud of suspicion from the process and allowed for all of us to see more clearly as the county moves forward.