Perhaps we need an “open task-force” law too.
From today’s Brookings Register, former State Senator Mary McClure Bibby questions Brookings County Commissioner Al Gregg on whether or not members of a local panel can attend a meeting:
(Historic Preservation Commission Vice Chair Mary) Bibby then asked Gregg if the preservation commission could at least attend the meetings.
“But they are open meetings?” she asked. “Do you meet regularly?”
“They are not open meetings,” he responded. It’s a task force. We’ve signed a confidentiality agreement at this so we can discuss all kinds of crazy things that don’t end up in the newspaper, he said. “And some of the things that we’ve come up with are kind of crazy I think.
And we don’t want to excite a lot of people until we have a plan. And at this point we do not have a plan.’”
Read it at the Brookings Register as soon as it’s on-line.
A gathering of public officials as they decide public policy isn’t a meeting but a task force. And at that, one that can supposedly keep things confidential. Because they don’t want crazy things ending up in the newspaper. And there’s some magic “agreement” to that effect?
I think I’m a little shocked at the hubris of that statement.
Perhaps we need an “open task-force” law too.
As well as a thorough discussion of the application of SDCL 1-25-2
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Comments
This task force is asking for trouble. Thinking they can tidy up this problem behind closed doors will only lead to more problems. Brookings residents are becoming suspicious, rumors are building. Not a good recipe for good government. Just another glaring weakness in our state’s open meetings law.
It just shows you can never legislate for everything. We require meetings where a quorum is present to be open. But we don’t have a rule for a group of public officials from different jurisdictions (city, county, school, etc.) Should that be a public meeting too? Probably. But it’s not in the law.
It’s like the old saying “you can’t legislative morality.” Public officials are either going to embrace openness, or they’re not.
Hubris indeed! Public officials need to have the courage to talk about their ideas openly and trust us not to freak out over their brainstorming. If they can’t handle that, then they should step aside and let in folks who aren’t afraid of public scrutiny.