County likely violates open meetings law
Staff writer
County commissions met behind closed doors Monday in what almost certainly was a violation of the Kansas Open Meetings Act.
The Marion County Record has filed a formal complaint with the Kansas attorney general’s office, urging the office to impose actual penalties because of the repeated nature of violations of this kind by local governments.
The executive session was called to discuss “contract negotiations.”
Commissioners and their counsel, Brad Jantz, would not disclose what contract was being discussed, even after being told by a reporter that the stated reason was not legally sufficient.
“The board recessed to executive session citing its only justification or subject matter as ‘contract negotiation,’” the Record’s complaint to the attorney general states. “A reporter informed the board that this was insufficient since ‘contract negotiation’ is not one of the specifically allowed justifications and that even if it were for employee-employer negotiations, which are allowed, the subject matter of who or what was being negotiated must be stated.
“This has been a continuing problem among various local bodies and does not seem to improve with rulings from the attorney general’s office such as a highly publicized one in April of this year in which the City of Marion was held to have violated KOMA by failing to specify in terms that were not ‘vague and generic’ a ‘statement describing the subjects to be discussed.’
“Clearly, continual findings of ‘technical’ violations, with no penalties, are not resulting in officials following the law. We ask for a prompt ruling with some actual penalties — or at least the credible threat of swift and harsh penalties — if this behavior does not change.
“Citizens may not have a right to know every detail of what their elected representatives say but they at least have a right to know what they are talking about.”
When commissioners returned to a public session, they did not discuss the matter further and took no vote on anything.
In other business Monday, Commissioner Kent Becker said he wanted to privatize docks at the county lake. He claimed “illicit activity” was happening “from 1:30 to 5:30 in the morning.”
“This has gone on too long,” Becker said.
If docks were privatized, adjoining property owners located outside Lakeshore Dr. could close or lock the docks to keep others away from them.
Becker moved to direct Jantz to write a resolution to privatize docks. The motion died for lack of a second.
County 4-H clubs presented commissioners with gift baskets for sponsoring the county fair.
Commissioner Clarke Dirks asked the nine 4-H members how many were going to the state fair. Most raised their hands.
Dirks reminded commissioners that a draft version of additional regulations for wind farms had been sent to Jantz for an opinion on whether the proposed draft was legal.
Jantz has not returned an opinion.
“There are a lot of things that need to be done in the county,” Dirks said. “This is what I campaigned on, and I want to get it done and move on to other things the county needs.”