From Melissa Davlin’s “Idaho Reports” blog

There have been quite a few accusations of government entities big and small violating Idaho’s open meeting laws recently. That’s not a trend journalists like to see.

So I’m keeping a running tally of such accusations throughout the state, starting retroactively in September. I’ll update with new stories when I see a link. Is there something I missed? Let me know: melissa.davlin@idahoptv.org.

(Full disclosure: I serve on the Idaho Press Club’s First Amendment Committee, which advocates for open government.)

If you need to brush up on Idaho’s open government laws, here’s a handy PDF, courtesy of Attorney General Lawrence Wasden’s office.

Sept. 29: Burley City Council admits to open meeting violation after unnoticed meeting regarding airport (via Times-News): https://magicvalley.com/news/local/mini-cassia/burley-council-admits-open-meeting-violation/article_28fed139-4022-5977-b81c-5550bc386857.html

Sept. 29: West Ada School District trustees void Superintendent Linda Clark’s contract extension after open meeting violation, then go into executive session, with one trustee accusing his colleagues of once again violating open meeting laws (via Idaho Education News): https://www.idahoednews.org/news/west-ada-trustees-void-superintendent-clarks-contract-extension/#.Vg1lPvlVhBd

Sept. 29: Idaho lawmakers pledge to open tax working group meetings to the public after previously meeting with little public notice (via Spokesman-Review): https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/sep/29/idaho-lawmakers-pledge-to-open-up-tax-discussions/

Sept. 27: Cassia County commissioners admit to third open meeting violation, but agree to pay back Perkins bill that taxpayers originally picked up (via Times-News): https://magicvalley.com/thevoice/news/cassia-commission-admits-to-rd-open-meeting-violation/article_74512d95-b81e-5ff5-a977-551a73fe9634.html

Sept. 20: Prosecutor: Transportation group violated open meeting law for its entire 25 years of existence; group will now post meeting notices (via Times-News): https://magicvalley.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/prosecutor-transportation-group-broke-open-meeting-laws-for-years/article_1aedc2d0-1887-55cf-abe5-ee269a1b367f.html

For updates, visit Melissa Dalvin’s Blog.

From Melissa Davlin’s “Idaho Reports” blog

The public is invited to attend any of three upcoming free seminars on Idaho’s key open government laws – the Idaho Open Meeting Law and the Idaho Public Records Law – Sept. 21 through Oct. 20 in McCall, Nampa and Boise, led by Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden.

It’s a chance to learn what is covered by these important laws and how to comply, in a fun and accessible format. Presenters in addition to Wasden will include Deputy Attorney General Brian Kane and IDOG President Betsy Russell. Government agency employees, public officials, reporters, editors and photographers from all media, and interested citizens all are invited.

These sessions are recommended by the Office of the Attorney General, the Association of Idaho Cities, the Idaho Association of Counties and the Idaho Press Club. They are free and include refreshments; because space is limited, attendees are asked to RSVP:

• MON. Sept. 21, MCCALL – Co-sponsored by the Star-News. Downstairs Community Room, Idaho First Bank, 475 E. Deinhard Lane, 1-4:30 p.m. RSVP to Tom Grote, starnews@frontier.com
• WED. Oct. 7 – NAMPA – Co-sponsored by the Idaho Press-Tribune and the city of Nampa. Nampa City Hall, Council Chambers, 411 3^rd St. South, 6-9:30 p.m. RSVP to Scott McIntosh, smcintosh@idahopress.com or 465-8110.
• TUES. Oct. 20 – BOISE – Co-sponsored by the Idaho Statesman and Boise State Public Radio. BSPR building, 220 E. ParkCenter Blvd., 6-9:30 p.m. RSVP to Bill Dentzer, bdentzer@idahostatesman.com or 377-6438.

IDOG and Wasden have been holding these sessions around the state since 2004. They are funded in part by grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation through the National Freedom of Information Coalition, and the Best of the West Foundation.

IDOG is a non-profit coalition for open government whose mission is to promote open government and freedom of information. There’s more information, plus an online “User’s Guide” to Idaho’s open government laws, available at IDOG’s website, www.openidaho.org.

Download the flyer.

Editorial from the Idaho Statesman

There was a time when it was common practice for the Idaho Legislature to conduct its committee meetings behind closed doors.

One day late in the 1969 session Ken Robison, the Idaho Statesman’s editorial page editor at the time and still a Boise resident, assigned a Statesman photographer to take a photo of the closed door that was preventing him from sitting in on the Revenue and Taxation Committee meeting.

In the next day’s newspaper the photo and Robison’s editorial complaining about the closed meeting ran. It apparently did the trick, because the doors mostly remained open after that.

Not all dust-ups over access to public records and meetings end so well. So, it’s a good thing the Idaho Open Meeting Law came along in 1974 and the Idaho Public Records Law in 1990. Though these laws have been refined over the years and access has mostly improved, the passages in the Idaho Code don’t do transparency any good unless they are known, understood and used properly when openness is denied.

Fortunately, Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden has been a champion when it comes to educating government agency employees, public officials, the media and the public about their rights and responsibilities regarding public records and open meetings.

We recommend two upcoming seminars that will provide excellent teachable moments on Oct. 7 in Nampa and Oct. 20 in Boise. Journalists and local government officials are the primary targets, but both are free and open to the public (please RSVP). The workshops are sponsored by IDOG — Idahoans for Openness in Government — and led by a group including Wasden, Deputy Attorney General Brian Kane and IDOG President Betsy Russell of the Spokesman-Review.

There is plenty to learn and apply. At a McCall seminar Monday attended by 80 people, some finer points were expanded upon. As reported by the Spokesman-Review: “Because two-thirds of a governing body must vote to go into executive session, that means on a five-member board, it takes four votes. Three aren’t enough – they’re just 60 percent. And if just three members of the five-member board have shown up at the meeting, they can’t go into executive session at all. . .”

Everybody talks about openness being the new norm in government in a more enlightened and transparent world. But there’s nothing quite like referencing from the informational booklets Wasden’s office provides, and citing the pertinent passages from the code when facing resistance.

Idaho law provides for some exemptions to public access to records — records involving investigations, attorney-client privilege, personnel or contract negotiations. But government agencies that keep records and hold meetings do best by the public when openness and transparency is the default policy.

Editorial from the Idaho Statesman

From the Twin Falls Times-News

BURLEY • Cassia County Commissioners admitted Monday to another open meeting violation after the Jerome County prosecutor investigated the incident.

Casey Andersen, a Burley city councilman, accused the Cassia board of six violations earlier this year, and in May the board admitted to two of the six allegations. The illegal March 23 meeting acknowledged Monday was included in the original complaint.

The commissioners moved a meeting from their chambers to Perkins Restaurant, and the meeting was not put on the agenda or noticed, Cassia County Attorney Doug Abenroth said. Meeting minutes from that lunch show the commissioners discussed a law enforcement committee report prior to a meeting with committee members and Burley officials.

Jerome County Prosecutor John Horgan on Monday told the commissioners their options were to admit to the meeting violation, fix any actions taken during the meeting and receive training on Idaho’s open meeting laws — or he would file the complaint in magistrate court.

“I went through it many times, and the meeting did violate the open meeting laws,” Horgan said.

Commissioners convened in executive session to discuss their options.

“People don’t trust government because of these kinds of things,” Andersen said later that day. “And if they continue, then people have a reason not to trust government.”

Abenroth said Andersen filed the complaint about the March 23 meeting with his office, and he asked a special prosecutor to step in and investigate.

Abenroth said Horgan called him Friday with his findings.

When the commissioners returned to open session Monday, Abenroth said they wished to amend their original letter in response to Andersen’s complaints by admitting to the March 23 open meeting violation.

By law the state requires a “cure” to the violation, Abenroth said. County, city and law enforcement committee leaders met legally later on March 23; because they discussed the committee’s finding in its entirety, that cured the illegal meeting.

All three commissioners agreed to review the attorney general’s open meeting manual.

“I’m just glad we finally got to this point,” Andersen said. “To me it was fairly obvious what the problem was at the start.”

Andersen said the expense for that meal — paid by taxpayers — should be repaid, and each person at the meeting should donate $50 to Meals on Wheels.

Commissioners didn’t say whether they’ll follow that advice.

“You can do whatever you want. I’m done,” Andersen said. “I’ve spent I don’t know how many hours dealing with this, which should have been resolved without even going to the public.”

From the Twin Falls Times-News

From the Twin Falls Times-News

TWIN FALLS • A transportation committee may have been breaking open meeting laws for the past 25 years, the Twin Falls Prosecuting Attorney’s Office says.

The Greater Twin Falls Area Transportation Committee hasn’t posted an agenda or meeting notice as long as it has existed but will from now on, Chairman Gary Young said. The prosecutor’s office looked into it after Twin Falls County resident Jill Skeem contacted the office. She opposes a truck route the group has proposed to bypass Twin Falls to the south, which would run along her property.

County Prosecutor Grant Loebs sent Young a letter on Thursday, briefly explaining open meeting and public records laws and saying the committee appears to be a “public agency” as defined by the law and must follow both.

“There appears to have been some confusion about how this Committee was initially formed, and perhaps some confusion as well about how these laws apply to the Committee,” the letter says. “Please take any steps necessary to ensure that the Committee is in compliance with Idaho law.”

Young said Friday that, as far as he knows, the committee had never advertised the meetings or agenda. He said the group would now, and would have started to sooner, had members known they were required.

“To my knowledge, we have not done that, but we can start,” he said.

The committee was formed by county commissioners in 1990 to study and make recommendations on transportation issues in the greater Twin Falls area, and includes representatives from local government, highway districts and other interested stakeholders. It meets once a month at 7 a.m. at Idaho Joe’s.

The committee didn’t draw much public attention before, but it has been in the spotlight since this spring when it came out with recommendations for three potential truck routes, surprising residents and some local elected officials who weren’t aware the route was under discussion.

Keller Associates did the study that led to the recommended routes, working with a smaller steering committee that included Young and two other GTFATC members.

All three routes would go through some homes and businesses. After a presentation in May, the Twin Falls City Council preferred the option that followed 3600 North to 3300 East, which would affect 18 properties. The Kimberly City Council decided in July not to back any of the proposals.

Skeem said Friday she is glad the committee will follow the Open Meeting Law moving forward.

“To me, it’s clear that the committee should be following the state Open Meeting Law to begin with,” she said.

Skeem said people should have known about the proposed route while it was being developed, and that the steering committee’s meetings should also have been public.

“That’s why they have open meeting laws,” she said. “That’s why it’s so strict.”

Loebs told the Times-News Thursday that any violations appear to have been due to confusion as to whether the laws applied to the group, rather than malice.

“We’re investigating it and we’ll make sure it operates properly,” he said.

The idea of a route to steer truck traffic out of Twin Falls has been around for a while, and supporters say it is needed because of the area’s industrial growth.

There’s no funding for one lined up, or a route that has been decided on, and Young has said it could be several decades before it is completed, if it gets built. Before this, it would have to be added to the Twin Falls Highway District’s transportation plan.

At the moment, Young said, the transportation committee is reviewing some revisions to the study that would not choose a route but would call for further study by the highway district.

From the Twin Falls Times-News

Editorial from the Coeur d’Alene Press

Editor’s note: Ignite cda’s public hearing on its 2016 fiscal year budget is today at 4 p.m. in the Coeur d’Alene Library Community Room. The public is invited to attend.

***
Tens of thousands of tax dollars don’t buy much goodwill when the public is treated like a pain in the tax increment.

In a letter to the editor Sunday, Coeur d’Alene resident Amy Lyons expressed her frustration with ignite cda – Coeur d’Alene’s urban renewal agency, formerly known as Lake City Development Corp. – when her request for specific information about the agency’s proposed budget was given the runaround. Amy learned something The Press and others, including City Councilman Dan Gookin, have known for a long time. LCDC/ignite cda is the region’s most reluctant public body when it comes to real transparency.

Last Friday, Press City Editor Maureen Dolan emailed Tony Berns, ignite cda’s executive director, and respectfully asked that the newspaper be provided a copy of the proposed budget for the coming fiscal year. Berns did not comply with the request but instead emailed a pdf of the agency’s public records request form and asked her to fill that out and return it.

Unlike most forms that go back and forth, the pdf had to be printed out and Dolan was then tasked with filling it out by hand. That’s not just inconvenient; it also precludes the records seeker from going into as much detail as is sometimes necessary to acquire the needed information. That detail is important because it generally saves the person fulfilling the records request time and energy, which ultimately is money. The more specific the request, the easier it is to narrow the search and serve the person asking for information.

Yesterday, when The Press still had not received the information it had initially requested Friday, Dolan contacted Berns to find out why. He replied that the information had been mailed – and by that he meant the U.S. Postal Service. Not email, which would’ve arrived in seconds and allowed the newspaper time to give readers a preview of today’s ignite cda budget hearing. While it would’ve shown exemplary public service, Berns also could have brought the records to The Press. His office and The Press are literally across the street from one another.

We wish this was simply a communication problem or personal dispute between a private business and a public entity or even a newspaper editor and ignite cda ‘s highly paid leader. But it is not. Just ask Amy Lyons or Dan Gookin. They’ll tell you that by any name, Coeur d’Alene’s urban renewal agency doesn’t understand who’s working for whom.

Editorial from the Coeur d’Alene Press

From Eye on Boise/The Spokesman-Review

Former Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus, who filed a Freedom of Information Act request in January for documents about the U.S. Department of Energy’s plans to seek a waiver from the 1995 nuclear waste agreement with Idaho to allow commercial spent nuclear fuel to be sent to the state, has formally appealed the DOE’s response, which he says took nearly six months and withheld much of the requested information.

“I’ve been dealing with the Department of Energy for a long, long time,” said Andrus, a four-term governor and former U.S. Secretary of Interior. “They have always been among the most secretive federal agencies. While I have become all too familiar with DOE’s historic refusal to truly engage the public in a discussion about its short and long-term plans for Idaho, it is simply not acceptable to withhold potentially critical information in this manner.”

Andrus said in response to his FOIA request, the DOE provided 41 documents, but 30 of them were “essentially completely redacted,” citing FOIA exemptions for “deliberative process, attorney-client and attorney work product” information. “Virtually the only unredacted documents provided by DOE were public news articles and limited correspondence that were already widely available,” Andrus said in his appeal.

The appeal comes as the federal government has turned up the pressure on Idaho to grant a waiver from the 1995 agreement, negotiated by then-Gov. Phil Batt, to accept two waste shipments to the Idaho National Laboratory in eastern Idaho. A recent letter from state Commerce Director Jeff Sayer to Gov. Butch Otter said the state’s been given a two-month deadline, and if it doesn’t grant the waiver by then, could lose millions in research projects. Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden has been adamant that he will not consider a waiver of the 1995 agreement until the Integrated Waste Treatment unit at INL is operational, which was initially supposed to occur by 2012, then by this fall, but still isn’t up and running. That treatment unit, under the 1995 agreement, is supposed to convert liquid waste now stored above the aquifer into a powdery substance, reducing danger to the aquifer. Both Wasden and Otter must agree for a waiver to be issued.

Andrus said in a statement, “DOE’s long-time pattern, through both Republican and Democratic administrations, has been to tout the short-term benefits of a ‘research project,’ while never taking into account what eventually happens to the highly radioactive material for the next 25, 50 or 100 years.” He added, “Bottom line: Idahoans are entitled to know all of what is being proposed.”

Andrus, who is represented by attorney Laird Lucas of Advocates for the West, said he isn’t ruling out going to federal court over his records request.

From Eye on Boise/The Spokesman-Review

From Eye on Boise/The Spokesman-Review

The Idaho Attorney General’s office has published new versions of its manuals on the Idaho Public Records Law, the Idaho Open meeting Law and the Ethics in Government law, to reflect changes enacted by the Legislature this year, including recodifying all three statutes into a new title of the Idaho Code entitled “Transparent and Ethical Government.”

“One of the most essential elements to a free and democratic society is government that honors, respects and promotes transparency,” said Attorney General Lawrence Wasden. “These manuals have always provided the tools and understanding of the laws designed to help the public hold government and its leaders accountable.” He added, “This recodification reflects the importance that lawmakers and I place upon transparent and ethical government all across this state.”

The recodification changes the Idaho Code numbers to reference all three laws; previously, the Public Records Law was deep in the section of Idaho Code dealing with evidence; the Open Meeting Law was under a “miscellaneous” section; and the Ethics in Government law was under a public officers section. Now, all are in Title 74, making all three easier to find and giving them more prominence.

However, the changes will require all those who reference the laws to change the statute numbers they cite, just as Wasden revised the manuals his office publishes. For example, public records requests that previously cited Idaho Code Sections 9-337 through 9-350, now will need to cite Idaho Code Sections 74-101 through 74-126, the new section numbers for the Idaho Public Records Law.

Wasden is recommending that local government leaders take time to update their own materials to reflect the changes. In addition to the recodification, the new manuals reflect this year’s increases in fines for violations of the Open Meeting Law. All the manuals can be found online here. The Idaho Public Records Law was first enacted in 1990; this year marks its 25^th anniversary.

From Eye on Boise/The Spokesman-Review

From the Idaho Press-Tribune

CALDWELL — Residents of Caldwell packed the school district board room Monday night to address trustees with a host of questions and expressions of disappointment one week after the board removed Superintendent Tim Rosandick and Assistant Superintendent Luci Asumendi from active duty status.

Trustees remained silent as several individuals approached the podium during a designated period for public comment. The special meeting was held mostly to appoint Jodie Mills as the interim superintendent for the 2015-16 school year — a motion that passed by a unanimous vote — but it turned into an indictment of the board’s actions last week.

One week ago, trustees passed addendums to Rosandick and Asumendi’s contracts with the school district that relieved them of active duty in their roles. The two will stay on as “consultants” to the board and district officials until their contracts expire next June.

To date, the only explanation given for the move is the one Bill Gigray, attorney for the school district, continued to repeat Monday night.

“There are times unfortunately in the management of affairs of either a school district or other entities where there can be circumstances where the cohesive, or unified, or mutual supportive management just does not exist or is in a struggling situation,” Gigray said.

“As I recall the situation … there was a mutual agreement reached that there needed to be an action taken that all could agree to so this whole process could move on.”

There is no confidentiality clause in the addendums barring Rosandick, Asumendi or any of the trustees from giving more detail about the situation, but Rosandick and several trustees have declined to comment further. Board Chairman Chuck Stout and Trustee Leif Skyving both declined to comment again Monday night.

Chuck Randolph, who worked in the Caldwell School District for 16 years and said he had Rosandick as a student, had six questions for the board. First, he said he wanted a definition for the “situation” Gigray referenced and what happened that was so egregious, Rosandick and Asumendi had to be removed immediately. In the time he was employed by the district, Randolph said the only individuals who were removed from their positions immediately had broken the law in some way or acted inappropriately.

“None of that appears to apply, because the board — according to the (Idaho) Press-Tribune — thanked them for their service and kept them on as paid consultants,” Randolph said. “Please define the situation that was so egregious they could not only not fulfill an assigned 2015-16 contract, but not even finish the 2014-15 contract that would have gone through June 30.”

Randolph also asked what the new direction of the school district would be, and why it was so time sensitive that the action of removing the superintendents needed to be taken so quickly. He also wanted to know the plans for hiring a permanent replacement for Rosandick, addressing the expenditure of paying out the superintendents’ contracts, the apparent “self-imposed gag rule” on the part of trustees, and the “collateral damage” that would take place from the action.

Randolph was referring to the early retirement of Gini Rosandick, who is Tim Rosandick’s wife. Gini Rosandick has been the orchestra teacher at Caldwell High School for nearly 20 years, and her groups have received many awards for their accomplishments under her direction. Randolph said in the 49 years he has been involved in education, she is one of three of the best teachers he has ever seen.

Shelly McKee, who called herself a “regular parent” in Caldwell School District, also expressed sadness about Gini Rosandick’s early retirement.

“My son is just going into high school and was so looking forward to being in her orchestra. I just think it’s a huge loss, huge … that’s a gem in this district. It’s huge. And I just think it’s shameful that it’s over,” McKee said.

She added that she and other parents felt “stonewalled” by the board, and that there was no real way to find the answers to their questions.

From the Idaho Press-Tribune