The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.''

|– Preamble to the Public Information Act.

That is not anyone's business, some have said.

I counter that it's everyone's business. Or at least everyone who lives, pays taxes, does business or visits the city of Marshall. Some have said that the rate of pay for public officials does not need to be made public record and certainly does not need to be published in the newspaper for all to see.

In recent weeks, the News Messenger has published the salary of outgoing Marshall Economic Development Executive Director Lou Ann Nisbett and City Manager Frank Johnson. There is a very good chance our readers will be seeing the amounts of compensation packages for other public officials in coming weeks.