Archives for October 2005

From the Idaho Press-Tribune

By Vickie Holbrook, Managing Editor

What government meetings are open? When can elected officials close a meeting to the public? What records can you access?

Idaho has open meetings and public records laws, but the people who want to deny access and the people who want access sometimes interpret the laws differently.

And there are those who close meetings only to plead ignorance if they are challenged. Some people suspect that every agency that closes the door has something to hide from the public. That’s an understandable perception, and the faith in the system is further eroded anytime officials lock a door — even when it’s legal — or leave the public standing outside the meeting room because a door is “accidentally stuck” when a session should be open to anyone who wants to attend.

The fact is that as long as there are reasons government officials can lock the door or keep records secret, there is bound to be conflict.

But the Idaho Attorney General’s Office and an organization called Idahoans for Openness in Government and the Idaho Press Club teamed up a year ago to define the rules and answer questions.

The program is for the media, the public and government officials, and will provide answers to questions about the state’s public records and open meetings laws — and it’s promised to be in a no-legalese format. Some easy-to-understand booklets also will be available.

A three-hour session begins at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, at the meeting room in Canyon County Courthouse, 1115 Albany, Caldwell.

A Boise workshop begins at 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, at the Boise Public Library Auditorium, 715 S. Capitol Blvd.

The Idaho Press-Tribune and KBCI Channel 2 are the local hosts for the meeting, and you are invited.

There is no charge, refreshments will be provided and 2.75 continuing legal education credits can be earned.

Please RSVP for the Caldwell workshop with Vickie Holbrook, 465-8110 or vholbrook@idahopress.com, and for the Boise workshop with Elinor Chehey at 343-8018.

Vickie Holbrook can be reached at 465-8110 or vholbrook@idahopress.com.

From the Idaho Press-Tribune

From the Associated Press

MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) — The University of Idaho student senate has decided to keep its meetings open to the public.

Voting Wednesday, the Senate shot down a proposal that would have stamped out the body’s voluntary adherence to Idaho’s open meeting law. The vote was 8-4, with some of the student senators in favor of closing the meetings, saying the body needed private discussions outside the knowledge of the administration.

“If the need arises to oppose the administration, we need to be able to operate behind closed doors,” Sen. James Fox, who voted for the bill, told the Lewiston Morning Tribune.

Sen. Ryan Marsh voted against the bill.

“I feel like we’re trying to get around the rules and laws with this proposal,” he said.

The debate about open meetings began after the Senate went into executive session, a closed meeting allowed only under strict guidelines in the open meeting law, two weeks ago. The Senate cited a private personnel discussion, a valid reason for an executive session.

But senators emerged from the closed meeting and immediately voted to cut the Vandal Taxi program, nicknamed the “drunk bus,” with no public deliberation.

A week later, Sen. Travis Shofner revealed that the Vandal Taxi program was in fact discussed in the closed meeting. Shofner was censured by the Senate for the revelation, and the outcry that followed led to the proposal to end the Senate’s voluntary adherence to the open meeting law.

The bill’s author, senate policy adviser Chris Dockrey, fumed after the vote and refused to indicate whether he would present a different version of his bill in the future.

He did speak in an open forum as the meeting began. “(This bill) will help this organization function more smoothly and achieve more for the students of this university by minimizing unnecessary side dialogue and noise and instead let the issues of the times take center stage,” he said.

Sen. Eric Everett said that passing the bill would have been admitting the senate had done something wrong.

“We have followed the Idaho open meeting law for years and had no problems until now because we are reacting to a perceived wrongdoing,” he said, maintaining the executive session didn’t violate the senate bylaws.

Everett also noted the Senate is entrusted with student money.

“We are spending the student fee dollars, and we are expected to spend it wisely,” he said.

From the Associated Press

Editorial from The Idaho Statesman, Sept. 30, 2005

Way to go, Lawrence Wasden.

The attorney general stood up for the Open Meeting Law � and sent a message to politicians statewide � when he accused Ada County commissioners of holding an illegal closed meeting.

The commissioners made the A.G.�s job easy. Their June 15 meeting was a blatant violation of the state law designed to ensure public officials do the public�s work in public. Still, Deputy Attorney General William von Tagen�s civil complaint, released Wednesday, is on target:

* He rejects the notion that commissioners needed to meet in private to discuss legal issues surrounding a proposed eastern Foothills subdivision. State law allows closed �executive sessions� to discuss pending or probable lawsuits. But as von Tagen notes, commissioners didn�t even have their lawyer in the meeting. �In no way was the commission receiving or exchanging information with its legal counsel.�

* Von Tagen criticizes the commissioners and their staff for failing to take minutes at the meeting. State law requires minutes even for executive sessions. Meeting notes don�t even say which commissioner suggested closing the meeting, or how commissioners voted on the idea.

Von Tagen�s complaint should be required reading for all elected officials. The complaint offers a stern reminder about working in the open � and following the rules on the rare occasion when a secret meeting is justified.

We hope Vern Bisterfeldt gets this message. Bisterfeldt, who worked a dozen years as a county commissioner and was elected to the Boise City Council in 2001, attended the June 15 meeting. He, like the commissioners, should have known better.

We hope the message hits home with the city and county officials who considered meeting last week at the members-only Arid Club to discuss building a taxpayer-funded detox center. The meeting was hastily called off when reporters and citizen watchdogs showed up � a public-relations black eye that just might have kept local leaders on the right side of the law.

The case of the June 15 meeting also offers a lesson in the power of citizen vigilance. Wasden got involved in response to a complaint from Tony Jones, an opponent of the Foothills subdivision proposal. By speaking up, Jones demonstrated that the Open Meeting Law is not just the news media�s law, but the people�s law.

Commissioners will make the next move. They can pay their fine � $150 apiece � or take the case to a judge. Considering that both Bisterfeldt and Commissioner Rick Yzaguirre have said the meeting covered topics that could have been discussed in open session, the commissioners ought to just cough up the money. They can chalk it up as tuition for a remedial lesson in Open Meeting Law.

Editorial from The Idaho Statesman, Sept. 30, 2005