Peabody council receives open-meetings training
Staff writer
Peabody City Council members completed their mandated hour of training Monday on Kansas Open Meeting Laws.
Council members listened intently as Nicole Proux Aiken with the Kansas League of Municipalities presented requirements through video conferencing.
Peabody was ordered to undergo one hour of the training for violating the act.
A few council members and city clerk Paul Leeker welcomed the update from Aiken.
Aiken gave a brief history of KOMA, which she enacted in 1972 to promote government business being open to the public with few exceptions.
Over the years, Aiken said, there have been lots of court opinions on KOMA.
“The reason for legislation is to allow transparency in government with an informed electorate that has to be open to the public,” she said.
Council member Kevin Burke wanted to know whether anyone other than council members and their attorney could be allowed in executive sessions.
Aiken said it would be rare to allow anyone, especially a member of the public not working for the city, to attend.
She cautioned the council of the pitfalls of talking to each other through group texts or email if three members were involved.
“Be careful, and do not press a reply to all,” she said.
While KOMA requires open meetings it does not require them to be at a certain location. If there is not an agenda, she said, the meeting does not have to be posted. However if a person wanted to be notified of meetings this must be done.
At the end of the training, Aiken told the council members if they will receive a KOMA handbook detailing what they discussed.