Council candidates' final question: Steven Roppel

Steven Roppel, a commercial real estate agent with Lee & Associates:

QUESTION: What issue or issues do you want to emphasize that were not fully addressed during the campaign?

ANSWER: Openness in government is essential to the functioning of a democracy. The California Supreme Court's decision on August 27, 2007, ruled that public employee salary information is subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act. Bay Area and Los Angeles public employee's salaries are available on the Internet. Today, four years after the court's ruling, where are Upland public employee salaries found? These essential details should be readily available for review in the approved budget and searchable online. Just a few months ago we learned that Upland's City Manager had received annual salary and benefits of over $460,000. We were shocked at this extravagant use of our tax dollars. Are there other instances of our tax dollars not being spent as they should? If elected as a member of Upland's City Council I will pursue the open review of all the details of how our tax dollars are spent.