Souza: Public, Televised, Elected

It’s not often than Mary Souza/OpenCdA.com and I agree on a subject involving the city of Coeur d’Alene. But today is an exception. Today, she offers this opinion re: the Person Field compromise:

“Why, after many months of unsuccessful negotiations between lawyers and finance directors, did this agreement happen so quickly? Because  it was done in a public, televised meeting between two groups of elected officials.  Key words here: public.  televised.  elected. No one wanted to look like the bad guy.  And there were also at least 100 citizens filling the room.  Kudos to City Councilman Dan Gookin who worked very hard to convince the two groups to hold this meeting.” Complete Mary Souze email here.

Question: How important was the public aspect of the Person Field talks last night?