Archives for July 2010

From the Idaho State Journal

The Idaho Freedom Foundation has sent a letter to the Idaho attorney general asking him to take enforcement action against Idaho State University for an alleged violation of the state’s open meeting law.

In the letter, Idaho Freedom Foundation Executive Director Wayne Hoffman tells Attorney General Lawrence Wasden he is not asking him to extract civil penalties. He says is he is merely hopeful that through the state’s action, “government transparency and openness will be restored at ISU.”

ISU officials could not be reached Sunday evening to comment on the letter, which stems from a May 12 meeting of the university’s parking advisory committee, which met in closed session and denied admittance to members of the media.

The meeting in the Oboler Library included faculty members who discussed major changes to the university’s parking policy. The parking board acts as an advisory group that advises the administration on parking fees and parking violation regulations. ISU officials believe the parking board is not subject to Idaho’s open meeting law since the board is not a governing body.

“The university holds the unfortunate position that it is prudent and proper to shut students, parents, taxpayers, faculty and the media out of meetings,” Hoffman states in his letter. “We ask that you insist that the university abide by the letter and spirit of the law.”

Immediately following the May 12 meeting, Hoffman wrote a letter to ISU asking the university to restore openness and transparency to the university’s public interactions.

The university’s attorney responded that the parking board is an internal university committee not created by statute, ordinance or legislative act and should therefore be exempt from requirements of the Idaho Open Meetings Act.

“It is not practical to expect that every internal committee adhere to these requirements, and perhaps for that reason, the act does not require them to do so,” ISU attorney Brad Hall wrote in response to the prior complaint from Hoffman.

The university’s legal counsel argued that the parking board is not subject to the open meeting law because the Idaho State Board of Education serves as ISU’s governing board. Hoffman claims that view is a misapplication of Idaho code and it does not absolve the university from the requirements of the law.

“Were ISU’s interpretation to hold true, it would mean that, for example, a city airport commission would be exempt from the open meeting requirements because the governing board of a city is a city council and not an airport commission,” Hoffman writes.

“The parking board is, in fact, a full board charged with recommending and deciding public policies,” he adds.

Hoffman asks Wasden to instruct ISU that any action taken on May 12 is null and void “and that all future meetings of the parking advisory board must be conducted in public.”

From the Idaho State Journal

From the Post Register

SALMON — A May 24 meeting of the Salmon City Council that was called in order to fire Salmon Police Chief Jim Spain violated Idaho’s open meeting law, according to an investigation of the incident by an independent prosecutor.

“It is my determination that this meeting was not properly conducted,” Canyon County Prosecuting Attorney John Bujak wrote in a letter to Lemhi County Prosecutor Bruce Withers and Salmon City Attorney John McKinney.

Bujak declined to impose a penalty for the violation, saying the council rescinded its action — the firing of Spain — after it learned the meeting was likely illegal. After questions arose about the meeting’s legality, the council voted 4-2 at a special meeting June 9 to fire Spain despite pleas from dozens of supporters to retain the veteran lawman.

Referring to Idaho law, Bujak wrote that if “a governing body violates the law, but thereafter rescinds its action and ‘cures’ the violation, the ‘cure’ acts as a bar to the imposition of a penalty.”

Salmon Mayor John Miller called the council to an emergency meeting the morning of May 24 to fire Spain, complaining about his lack of rapport with the chief and that Spain’s officers were coming down too hard on drunken drivers.

Idaho code requires that an emergency meeting, which does not require public notice, must focus on immediate financial damage or physical harm, neither of which was at issue when five of six council members gathered for the emergency meeting. McKinney was neither notified nor consulted about the meeting. Miller could not be reached for comment about Bujak’s findings.

The mayor has faced fallout from his push to oust Spain, including a recall campaign spearheaded by a former council member and the resignation of Salmon City Administrator George Ambrose.

From the Post Register