Nothing should be confidential about the actions of agencies directly representing a public entity or how taxpayer dollars are spent.

That is essentially at the core of an issue involving a number of recent lawsuits against the City of Ironton, the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office and other government agencies.

Far too often the attorneys in these cases enter into a confidentiality agreement between themselves. The problem is when they try to apply these to the media and to the taxpayer.

The public is in no way bound by these confidentiality agreements. Of course those involved often prefer that the information not be made public.

However, when it involves public agencies and even the insurance companies that represent them the public has a right to know because it all comes back to taxpayer dollars that are spent.

Regardless of whether or not it comes out of government coffers, even a settlement by insurance companies representing public agencies is relevant because the premiums are paid with public funds.

The most recent example involves the family of Aaron Roe, the individual who drowned in the Ohio River following a pursuit by the Ironton Police Department.

The Roe estate filed a suit against the city, the police department and the individual officers.

The family and even the city attorney wanted to keep the settlement quiet despite the fact that this began in a bar accessible to anyone moved to the public riverfront and involved a taxpayer-funded agency in the police department.

Regardless of who was at fault — and we have seen nothing to show that the IPD did anything inappropriate — our hearts go out to the Roe family.

The small financial consideration does nothing to replace the loss of this man.

But even the most tragic of circumstances doesn’t trump the right of taxpayers to know how their money is spent.