City made miscue on executive session
Ontario attorney stopped process at Monday meeting
By William Lundquist
Argus Observer
Thursday, November 8, 2007 11:12 AM PST
Ontario — The Ontario City Council ran afoul of Oregon Public Meetings Laws in two of the three executive sessions it held Monday night, but Mayor Joe Dominick quickly took responsibility.
“I fully admit to making an error and will do everything I can to fix it,” Dominick said Tuesday.
He said he was elected on a platform of openness and did not intend to hide anything.
According to the Attorney General’s Public Records and Meetings Manual, “These laws underscore the state’s policy that the public is entitled to know how the public’s business is conducted.”
Written records, as well as deliberations and decisions, of public bodies are, for the most part, available and open to any resident.
There are exemptions to the laws, but they are limited, the manual said, because the general policy of the law favors public access.
Executive sessions are not altogether exempt from the Public Meetings Law, and public bodies are always allowed to hold open sessions instead of executive sessions.
The City Council made its first mistake Monday night when it went into executive session to consider the employment of an officer, employee, staff member or agent, in this case a new city manager.
According to the Attorney General’s Public Records and Meetings Manual, though, that action can take place only after several requirements are met. The manual states, “this provision applies to employment of the chief executive officer, other public officers, employees, and staff members of any public body only if the vacancy for the position has been advertised, regular procedures for hiring have been adopted, and, for a public officer, the public has had opportunity to comment on the employment.”
As soon as the mayor and Ontario City Manager Scott Trainor started discussing specific names, Ontario City Attorney Larry Sullivan called a halt to the proceedings and explained that those provisions had not been met.
He reminded council members that the manual states, “the standards, criteria and policy directives to be used in hiring the chief executive officer must be adopted at a meeting open to the public at which the public has had an opportunity to comment.”
The council returned to open session to begin discussing those items but did not adopt any measures. The discussion was scheduled to continue at a special meeting of the City Council at 8 a.m. today in the Council Chambers of Ontario City Hall.
The City Council also went into executive session Monday night to consult with legal counsel concerning legal rights and duties regarding current litigation or litigation likely to be filed. The City Council stepped over the line when it returned to open session to make a final decision on whether or not to file the proposed litigation. The council voted to file the litigation discussed in executive session, but failed to specify what that litigation was.
The manual states, “the governing body, however, cannot evade the ‘final action’ requirement by using coded terms.”
By Tuesday morning, Sullivan said he felt the council had indeed used a coded term when it identified the litigation as simply litigation. He said he sent memos to the city advising it to not file the litigation until it can be voted on again in an open meeting. Dominick said that would be done, possibly as early as the this morning.
