There are few things better than openness in government, and as Sampson’s county commissioners search for a new manager, we hope board members keep that in mind.

And we hope they use as their example interim county manager Susan Holder’s hard work since taking the reins.

Holder has shed more light on government workings in her short tenure at the county’s helm than has been witnessed in many years.

It is, without question, a refreshing change and one we hope will be the rule rather than the exception as the county moves forward.

Two examples of Holder’s openness include the public forum on the county manager search and this past weekend’s fatal accident involving a county ambulance.

The forum, itself, was the first step in the open direction. Just the fact that the county welcomed the public’s input into the type person they believed needed to be the next county manager flung open the process in a way that was refreshing.

It showed both a willingness to attain insight from those commissioners serve and an openness that allowed the public to get a more up close look at a process that has often seemed secretive and closed.

Holder had a hand in both the forum and the more open process, and we applaud her efforts to help commissioners step from behind their often closed curtain.

It has proved a winning situation for commissioners who, by virtue of those two seemingly effortless acts, appear to be more open to those who elected them into office in the first place.

The step foward was a big one, and it was one that has been greatly appreciated.

Yet that step wasn’t nearly as big as the one Holder took last weekend when a county ambulance was involved in a motor vehicle accident on N.C. 55.

Rather than merely allowing this newspaper to discover the accident when reporters picked up Highway Patrol reports, when Holder was alerted to the accident she, in turn, alerted us.

She provided all the information she knew at the time, opening the door even further to lines of communication that those who deal in openness appreciate so much.

The public, too, should be appreciative, since Holder’s openness with the newspaper provided the mirror the public needs to see what is happening in the realm of government.

That reflection of openness is one we hope doesn’t disappear when a new county manager is appointed and an everyday normalcy returns to Sampson government.

We don’t just appreciate Holder’s bent toward openness, we applaud it, and we hope it opens commissioners eyes to the difference such moves can make in building relationships and showing taxpayers a different kind of government than the one they’ve unfortunately gotten used to.