Be there or risk being caught unaware at meetings

Be there, or be caught unaware. The Idaho Attorney General's office is of the opinion that it is legally permissible for elected bodies such as boards of county commissioners, city councils, school boards, etc. to add items to their meeting agendas after those meetings get under way.

Idaho Code also requires a "good faith" effort to include all known items on the agenda at the time the agenda is published. But interpreting the somewhat arcane statutory language "up to and including the hour of the meeting," the Attorney General's office believes items can be added to agendas at anytime.

Now, it's an opinion which has not been tested in court; while the statutory language could also be interpreted to mean items can only be added up to the time a meeting begins, since most meetings last longer than an hour. Certainly, that would give the media and the public a better chance to be present during important deliberations; since they have an opportunity to know in advance what might come up.

But as the top legal official in the state, the Attorney General's legal interpretations carry great weight and generally set the ground rules under which governing bodies can legally meet. This particular opinion begs the purpose of having an agenda at all.

It also opens a Pandora's Box. For example, the board of commissioners in Bonner County sometimes recesses their meetings to another day. Does this legal interpretation mean it's permissible to add items to those agendas that come up during or after the recess? Is it OK to call a so-called "special meeting" to discuss a specific matter, then pile on items that surface after that agenda is published and the meeting is under way?

If so, logistically it makes it almost impossible for the media to cover those deliberations; while it leaves the door open for elected officials to make important decisions that directly effect you with no warning or opportunity for your input.

Hopefully, that wasn't the legislative intent and the Attorney General's office has things wrong.

But given the ambiguous nature of the statutory language, it would appear incumbent on the Idaho Legislature to clear things up by rewriting that portion of the Open Meeting Law.

Until then, one can only hope that elected officials will eschew the practice of building their agendas during the course of their meetings as a show of good faith to the public they represent.

? Mike Brown is the news director at Blue Sky Broadcasting.