To the editor:

Remember the words “perception” and “trust.” With all the comments being made about the tax incentive for Deciphera, I don’t see a lot of comments about the real problem. If the City Commission would have had all the meetings open to the public, they would have come up with the same decision. When you go behind closed doors, there is a perception of mistrust.

Don’t you think the next time they go into executive session someone will say, “Hmmm, I wonder what is going on in there”? In the Nov. 21 Journal-World, it said no recordings or notes are taken in executive session. That, in itself, raises questions. Deciphera may be a great company and the city’s decision for a tax incentive may be a good one. It comes back to perception and trust. All Lawrence residents know right now is that we all got one property tax bill and it is higher than last year and we know the city gave a tax break to a company most of us did not know existed.

Trust is so hard to come by and so easy to lose! Lawrence is a growing town but not the size of Kansas City. When the commissioners did what they did, they lost the trust of the people who supported them when they were running for City Commission.

In the Nov. 21 Journal-World, there was nothing to prove the mayor took part in the closed-door meeting she attended. Do they really want us to believe the mayor had nothing else to do that day and went to the meeting just to hang out? Now we come back to those two words we started with: perception and trust.

Scott Henderson,

Lawrence