The terms "transparency" and "checks and balances" appear to have taken on meanings when it comes Harford County government.

Substitute "opaque" for the former and "somnolence" for the latter, and it pretty much sums up how the current county executive and county council have operated for much of the past five years.

It's very seldom the council as a collective group takes an interest in how the public's money is being spent or in demanding accountability on the county administration's decision making, especially the deals it makes in the private sector. It's akin to a watchdog sleeping through a home invasion.

Some of the blame surely falls on the current council's leadership, or lack thereof; however, some of this lies in an evolutionary process taking place since the county charter was first adopted 40 years ago.

Though the original charter was crafted to give everyone on the seven-member council an equal voice and, collectively, a strong position in its dealings with the county executive, that concept has been sliced and diced over the years through amendments (in-district elections, for example) and by a generally lackadaisical attitude on the part of many who have served. As a result, we have reached the point where the county council has effectively become neutered.

Once in a while a council member here or there will protest something, like Dion Guthrie is doing over the plan to put a trash transfer station in his Joppa district (soon not to be in his district, incidentally), but for far too often, the majority of these current council members have been sitting there like the proverbial bumps on the log and nodding their heads in collective ignorant bliss.

To me it's unconscionable that any government buys real estate without a minimum of two independent appraisals. Plunking down $2.9 million for any piece of property by extrapolating its value from a supposed appraisal done on another "comparable" property miles away, as was done with the transfer station site, just doesn't cut it in my book.

I was surprised to learn from doing some research of the county and state codes that appraisals apparently aren't required when Harford County government buys property, only when it gets rid of it. (Readers who remember the Gabler's Shore giveaway during the previous administration may be surprised to learn this as well!)

In addition to requiring two independent appraisals on any real property purchase, county law ought to require that the full county council approve every contract of sale involving real estate, both what is being acquired and what is being suplused. Not that I think the current council will wake up from its slumber and actually question something, but some later group might.

For those who make the argument that the county council has two representatives on the board of estimates - the president or his designee and a citizen appointed by the council - and that should be enough to keep an eye on things, my answer is that apparently it isn't.

Another thing our laws apparently don't take into account are these fuzzy deals like the one the administration made involving the Graham property in Abingdon, particularly the part about securing the right to develop a cultural arts center on part of the property.

This cultural arts center plan, which could ultimately obligate taxpayers to millions of dollars, was never put into the realm of public debate or scrutiny, although other aspects of the same deal were - sort of. The county effectively bought off the Quakers' potential claim against the Graham property by promising to give them another property on which to build a school. (The county is giving away parkland, acquired previously for $1.8 million.) At no time, however, was it stated publicly that the Quaker and Graham deals were also linked to the cultural arts center project - until after a number of private agreements were made.

Maybe you agree with everything the current county administration does, maybe you don't, or maybe you fall somewhere in between. But, if you care one whit about the money the county takes out of your pocket each April 15 and July 1, then it seems you'd like to know what's going to be done with it before people sign on the dotted line.

Frankly, it's time for all of us to wake up.