While we’re giving credit, we’d be remiss if we didn’t commend Brookfield Village Manager Keith Sbiral for taking the leap recently into social media to directly communicate with residents, who air concerns, complaints or just have questions on the various community Facebook pages where Brookfielders congregate.
We’re sure he’ll take his lumps there; very few people go on Facebook to tell him what a swell job he’s doing.
But it’s important for residents to be able to connect with local government officials in order to understand more about how local government works. Because when it comes down to it, local government is wholly dependent on residents to form a consensus on how they want their community to look and operate.
Sometimes government can seem abstract and faceless. So for the village manager to dive in and talk personally with someone who has an issue, it creates a connection and, hopefully, an understanding about why things are the way they are, how they can be improved and even the role residents can play in helping resolve problems.
