if people didn't loan their gun off premises to an unlicensed carrier or if, rightly or wrongly surmised, antidepressants were not misprescribed or under monitored, or even if the public eye focus wasn't on keeping up with the joneses ... it still wouldn't stop some tragedies like the one in the news this week.
Maybe the following of some guidelines could help many situations however. Things don't operate in a vacuum.
As one example, if you look at our city and probably many other cities, there are insufficient checks and balances on the credit cards usage under the city manager's office. The method of having an employee, that may be hired or fired by any CM in any city, not just this one, approving (or accounting or categorizing) a CM's personal use versus city use, charged on the same cards, is not an ideal set up. Further, some of the charges are to dine the council members, among many others, and among other things, so the CC would not be an impartial overseer either. I do not know of written guidelines of the city that the city manager can spend on a council member for dining them and so forth. Also, there is not an ethics policy. This is not a fleshed out, written council rules of procedure.
I think checks and balances will finally be put into place now, with written, published policy on such matters, and the advice and request to do so will be heeded. Things like that are important for a city, although many people do not believe it. (Also, a charter review is in order.)
Along the same lines, the city should please place the city checkbook (all accounts, tracking of all funds) and all credit card account transactions (line item payee/purpose/amount/date/time) on line.
