Openness should be the standard not the exception when it comes to meetings and records of public bodies.
We see and hear of boards, councils, other public bodies that either ignore or attempt to skirt the Open Meetings and Records Act. Non-profits are subject to the law when they receive any kind of public funding.
It’s frustrating to see. It happens because either the organization or public body is not as knowledgeable as it should be about the Open Meeting and Open Records Act, or it just isn’t interested enough to abide by it.
We had an educator the other night make a comment that caught our attention. He said he couldn’t believe how many either break the law or try to skirt around it with their agendas.
There are some attorneys throughout this area who do a credible job of ensuring those public bodies or organizations they represent strictly adhere to the law, especially the new business provision on agendas.
But agenda items pertaining to personnel issues are those we’ve seen abused most frequently.
What those who sit on councils, school boards, commissions, should remember is they are allowed to hold and go into executive session to discuss certain personnel matters. Nowhere in the statutes does it mandate and say they must go into executive session.
In an Attorney General’s Opinion issued in 1998, it states a public body that goes into executive session must identify by name or by position the person being discussed.
We seriously question an agenda item that states “Discussion of Superintendent’s recommendation of new personnel” meets this requirement.
This is just one example we often see.
We can understand if a board or a council is wanting to hire someone for a position who already is employed and wanting to keep the identity of that person secret.
However, the Open Meeting law requires that at least the position be revealed that the board or council is trying to fill.
In most cases that we’ve seen, the person the board or council pretty well knows if he or she is going to be hired or not. The official responsible for recommending approval by the board is more than sure that’s going to happen.
So it doesn’t need to be any big secret. The public has a right to know what is going on, after all it’s public dollars that are footing the bill.
There’s nothing better than complete openness when it involves Open Meetings and Open Records. It always helps build trust and that is needed these days.