Wyoming’s five statewide officials gathered Thursday for an agenda that included deciding whether to give a Cody pharmaceutical manufacturer a multi-million dollar loan.

But while the discussion between Gov. Matt Mead, Secretary of State Ed Murray, Treasurer Mark Gordon, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow and Auditor Cynthia Cloud hit close to home, the meeting place did not.

The officials convened as the State Loan and Investment Board in Cheyenne, meaning area residents who wanted to listen in on the hours of discussion about Cody Labs’ $11 million loan needed to make a 13-plus hour round trip. That’s an impossibly high surcharge for civic participation — and an example of why Wyoming should do more to make government business more accessible to the public.

Before going any further, it’s only fair to say that we almost unfailingly find government workers across the state to be ready and willing to help provide access. For example, at the Powell Tribune’s request, Gov. Mead’s office made sure Thursday’s SLIB meeting was recorded and provided the Tribune with a copy of the audio.

However, it would be better if it didn’t take a request; meetings should simply be accessible.

Multiple state agencies — including the Wyoming Business Council, which held the initial hearing on Cody Labs’ request — make their meetings available by webinars or teleconferencing; the Wyoming Legislature provides a live audio stream of lawmakers’ daily business during the session and, when they recess, almost immediately makes the audio recordings available online, to be listened to whenever.

Those kind of measures make it wonderfully simple for people to dial or click into a meeting, no questions asked. We ask: Why can’t more arms of government do that, too?

While the Legislature broadcasts and archives its sessions, it does not do so for its many committee meetings. So, if you wanted to hear Powell Police Chief Roy Eckerdt weigh in on body camera policies at an August meeting of the Legislature’s Task Force on Digital Information Privacy, you needed to travel to Casper.

Another legislative committee — one on Legislative Technology and Process — is considering whether to post audio recordings of committee meetings online. We encourage them to move forward as soon as possible.

Local governments could also do better.

Every election cycle, people run for the Park County Commission and call for making the commission more accessible to the public. But nothing really changes.

Commission meetings are more challenging to track because of their length and middle-of-the-day scheduling. In addition, the meetings are not recorded or archived online like Powell and Cody city council meetings. (Cody even offers a live online video feed.)

We encourage commissioners to seriously consider some of the ideas suggested every couple of years — such as hosting the occasional evening meeting or having one in Powell, Clark or Meeteetse. Making recordings more readily available might boost public participation, too.

We know streaming or electronically archiving a meeting carries some cost, but we argue that transparency and accountability are essential, not superfluous, parts of government.

Former Gov. Mike Sullivan has said Wyoming is a small town with really long streets.

Part of what makes this a “small town” is how often the events in one part of the state affect us or someone we know. So when it comes to keeping tabs on government, it’d be nice if the streets weren’t quite so long.