The issue of transparency is one that has been following Roanoke Rapids City Council long before the cupola to the Roanoke Rapids Theatre was hoisted and installed.

An essentially new council has tried to make itself more transparent but in the machinations of theater business still finds itself meeting in a seemingly never ending stream of closed sessions.

Why, then, should it want to muddy already murky waters and allow the Roanoke Avenue Business Alliance's executive board to serve as a special advisory committee to the city unless RABA is willing to make some concessions?

Opening this up the way it is written would be a mistake for the city because to us it doesn't fit in the scope of already established committees and could be a threat to open meeting laws.

If RABA, a non-profit, wants to serve as an advisory panel to the city it's going to have to make some changes in its proposal. That change would namely be having the city create another committee which allows inclusion of those who are not just downtown or uptown merchants or those who have an interest in seeing the avenue thrive, but to those from outside that realm and the city's extraterritorial district who might be interested in serving and might offer insight on how to best recharge the avenue.

This is what is missing from the proposal and unless it's changed, we see no need for the city to move forward with it.

We have no issues with RABA and think they are doing an outstanding job. Facade improvement grants are coming in and the organization, at least from what Main Street Director Lance Jenkins said at Tuesday's meeting, is becoming more inclusive and reaching out to more businesses on the entire avenue.

If RABA would agree to allow the city to seek interested parties to serve on an open committee which spans the breadth of this community, then we would have no problem with it. To have such a panel would ensure openness where having its executive committee serve would be in direct conflict with reasons these committees are started.

Perhaps the more rationale sense in this is to let RABA continue as it has been doing and not get tangled up in the world of local politics.

Jenkins is at every meeting and work session and if there are things that need council approval he is there. He works in the same building with the city planner and is within an upstairs walk to the city manager's office for consultation on pressing matters.

The most important factor in this, however, remains that if this is granted, RABA should be treated no differently than the Beautification Committee, the Library Committee or the Recreation Advisory Committee and that it's members should come not just from the avenue, but from the same places the aforementioned committee members do. Doing otherwise would only muddy already murky waters — Editor