It is our duty to defend the state law, but that should not act as a barrier to our mutual respect and cooperation. In support of the above, I would like your help and suggestions for forming a monthly meeting when you could come into my office and express concerns and explain issues to me directly. This is particularly critical now that the position of environmental advocate is vacant. I think a monthly meeting would help us both in a collegiate exchange of ideas. Open communications is the only way we will move forward together.
Confrontation solves nothing.
I happened to think of this idea because more than one person in the environmental community has expressed concerns not to me directly, but in the media and elsewhere that we are considering abolishing the environmental advocate role. Nothing could be further from the truth. But it is symptomatic of the concerns, however wholly unjustified, some of you have for the motivations of this office. We had very high regard for Wendy Radcliff in her job as environmental advocate. She was critically important to the operation and functions here.