Policies need an expiration date

Twenty-seven years is a long time for any government policy to remain unchanged.

Technology evolves. Laws change. Financial markets shift. Employees come and go. Yet the Weston County commissioners recently discovered that the county’s investment policy has not been updated since 1999.

That does not necessarily mean the policy was improper when it was adopted, or that county officials have handled public money irresponsibly. It does mean the document guiding those decisions was written for a very different world.

In 1999, most county business was still conducted on paper. Online banking was in its infancy. Cybersecurity was hardly part of the everyday vocabulary, and the financial tools available to local governments were not necessarily the same as those available today.

A policy governing taxpayer dollars should not sit untouched through nearly three decades
of change.

The commissioners deserve credit for recognizing the problem and beginning a discussion about the county’s investment options. Reviewing that policy could help ensure county money remains secure, accessible, and invested in a way that provides taxpayers with an appropriate return.

But this discovery should prompt a broader question: What other county policies have been sitting in a binder for decades?

Policies governing personnel, technology, records, purchasing, emergency operations, public safety and taxpayer money should not remain in place indefinitely simply because nobody has thought to revisit them.

Some policies may still work perfectly well. Others may need only minor changes. A few may refer to positions, procedures or technology that no longer exist.

County officials will not know what those circumstances may be until they take a deep dive.

That is why every county policy should include a regular review date. Depending on the subject, that review might occur annually, every three years or every five years. The goal should not be to rewrite every policy simply for the sake of making changes. It should be to confirm that each policy remains legal, practical and appropriate for the county’s current needs.

A review schedule would also protect against policies being forgotten when elected officials or employees change. Institutional knowledge should not depend entirely on one person remembering what is buried in an old file.

The county could begin by creating a complete inventory of its policies, noting when each was adopted, when it was last reviewed, and when it should come before the commissioners again. Reviews could then be spread across the calendar so the workload remains manageable.

That approach would replace accidental discovery with responsible oversight.

Weston County’s investment policy may ultimately require nmajor revisions, minor adjustments or no significant changes at all. The important thing is that commissioners are finally asking the question.

Now, they should make sure another county policy does not wait 27 years for someone to ask it again.

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