Any time a voter hears the words “economic development” linked to “general fund” they should sit up and take notice.

And there is not better case in point than the recent brush up with the Umatilla County Board of Commissioners and a vote to furnish Pendleton with $2 million to trigger a new road connecting Highway 11 to Highway 30 on the city’s south hill. Pendleton city officials believe the new road will spark a new single family housing development on bare land in the area.

The yet unnamed, unbuilt development will be a “huge economic booster to our community,” according to Pendleton Mayor John Turner.

Recently, the commissioners voted twice to provide the city with the $2 million. The first time the commissioners did so was in November. Then, your elected leaders approved the deal but did so without releasing a written agreement to the public before, or during, their regular meeting. At the time, Commissioner Dan Dorran voted “no” on the measure because he did not feel he could cast a vote without seeing the agreement.

Commission Chair George Murdock, at the time, said the written agreement wasn’t available because county counsel Doug Olsen was out of the office. But Murdock apparently did provide information about the agreement in a weekly email he sends out to specific people. None of what Murdock explained in the email about the deal was accessible to voters on the county board’s online meeting agenda.

By the Dec. 1 meeting, though, the contract was publicly available and all three commissioners — for the second time — approved the deal. Following the vote, Murdock said the first time the commissioners voted on the issue it was as a “concept.” The second time they approved it was the actual deal.

The $2 million that will go to Pendleton isn’t a grant, but structured as a revolving fund, which means the city is expected to reinvest money back into the fund after withdrawing from it.

The money, though, will come from the county’s general fund. That’s public dollars. In other words, if you are a voter or resident in Hermiston, Weston, Pilot Rock or Stanfield, the general fund cash is your money.

In the end, the entire incident is unfortunate because of how badly the run-up to the initial vote was bungled. There never should have been a vote before an actual agreement was accessible to the other two commissioners and the public. As hard as it may be to visualize for some, the public has a right to know anytime its money is going to be used for any endeavor.