Are closed Ogden meetings legal?

Officials reviewing question after inquiry by Standard-Examiner

BY JOHN WRIGHT
Standard-Examiner staff
jwright@standard.net
Are closed Ogden meetings legal?

OGDEN — Three city committees are violating state law by meeting behind closed doors, according to an attorney for the Utah chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

In response to an inquiry by the Standard-Examiner, the city is reviewing the legality of the meetings. But one City Council member said he believes they are legal because the committees do not make decisions.

Meetings of Ogden’s Joint Leadership Committee, Legislative Committee and Neighborhood Stability Work Group -- all made up of high-level city staff -- are closed to the public.

Tim Smith, a member of the Salt Lake City law firm that operates the SPJ’s Freedom of Information Hotline, said he believes the closed meetings violate the Utah Open and Public Meetings Act.

Under the act, meetings are to be open if they include a quorum, or majority, from a public body.

Although the three committees in question do not include quorums from the City Council, Smith said he believes they are public bodies. Under the act, a public body is “any administrative, advisory, executive or legislative body of the state or its political subdivisions that consists of two or more persons; expends, disburses or is supported in whole or in part by tax revenue; and is vested with the authority to make decisions regarding the public’s business.”

"as an advisory board, they are subject to the open meetings act," Smith said of the three committees. "I don't see any reason why they would fall outside of the requirements to have open meetings. ... I personally think it’s a poor way to govern.”

City Council Executive Director Bill Cook said he has requested an opinion from the City Attorney's Office on the closed meetings. But Council-Safsten defended them.

“Formal decisions cannot be made,” he said. “Formal agreements cannot be made. Everything that ever has any kind of a consequence has to be brought back to the council as a whole, and the second the council meets as a whole, it’s an open meeting.”

Asked how the three committees differ from 22 city advisory boards that have open meetings, Safsten called it “a fair question.”

But he said he thinks it is important for officials to have an opportunity to talk about some things outside the public eye.

“It’s not a matter of playing games. It’s a matter of trying to have an environment where proposals or very incipient ideas can be discussed,” he said. “There comes a time when you need to be able to appropriately discuss certain things, and sometimes the best way to do that is in small groups.”

The Joint Leadership Committee is made up of the council chairperson, the council vice chairperson, a rotating council member, the mayor and the chief administrative officer, Safsten said. The committee meets twice a month.

Councilwoman Amy Wicks said the Neighborhood Stability Work Group is made up of three council members including herself, the mayor, a representative from community policing, a representative from the city attorney’s office and sometimes other officials from the administration. It meets about once a month.

Wicks said the Neighborhood Stability Work Group was formed a few months after she took office in January 2004 to deal with problems in Ogden’s east central neighborhood. Among other things, the group has helped craft the city’s controversial Good Landlord ordinance.

“We’re really just addressing concerns with crime and getting people to want to stay and get involved in what’s going on in their neighborhood,” Wicks said.

She said she would not have a problem opening the meetings of the Neighborhood Stability Work Group, but added it does not make decisions.

“We’re just taking information back to the council,” she said.

Safsten said the legislative committee is made up of the council chairperson, the council vice chairperson, a third council member, the mayor, the chief administrative officer and the management services director.

He said the committee meets about once a month and is charged with identifying state and federal legislative issues that are important to the city.

“Once more, as we determine in that group what is significant, or what should be dealt with, we then go back to the entire body and get a decision from them,” he said. “We cannot make decisions in that group.”