Management of the U.S. 80 Bridge over the Mississippi River remains as murky as the water swirling below.

It shouldn’t be that way.

The old bridge, now used exclusively by Kansas City Southern for its trains and as an attachment point for the cables of assorted utilities, is a public asset. It is owned by the people of Warren County who are being given absolutely no clue as to what’s on the minds of Warren County supervisors or the five members they appoint to the bridge commission.

Last week, for at least the third time in the past seven months, supervisors and commissioners met behind closed doors for well over an hour.

It’s their option to do so, they say, because KCS has threatened to take them to court and state law allows secret sessions when public bodies face “potential litigation.”

“Allows” is a key word here, because nothing in the law requires any of their discussions to be held outside the public’s hearing. If they had any desire to be open and forthright with voters, they could. That’s not the case. Even before and after such sessions, supervisors are coy and evasive in answering questions — and not just about what was said but also the topic being discussed. Their considered position is the less you know the better. It’s their right to have it that way — not even telling you the options being reviewed.

The facts are these:

* Warren County has owned the bridge, built privately and opened in 1930, since the end of World War II.

* From the start, the county’s plan was to use tolls to pay off the purchase price and thereafter to set tolls to pay for operation and maintenance on a break-even basis.

* The vehicular roadbed was closed 10 years ago due to deteriorating concrete. There are no plans for it ever to be reopened to traffic if for no other reason than it is too narrow to meet legal minimums.

* The long-term lease with KCS is a dead letter and has been for years. An earlier agreement by the commission and supervisors to sell the bridge to KCS was revoked by supervisors after public protest. For safety reasons, KCS strongly opposes any plan to allow regular pedestrian traffic on the old roadbed in the form of a park or overlook.

* In 2005, the commission started billing KCS for new, far higher tolls. KCS, for the most part, has continued paying at the old rate as “negotiations” continued.

* Engineering reports say the bridge needs some work, but remains stable for the foreseeable future.

Anything else said about the bridge is speculation.

Why?

Because the Warren County Board of Supervisors has decided that it’s none of your business.