Posted on 12/30/2005 2:02:47 PM PST by IonImplantGuru
Tucson, Arizona [Pima] County officials plan to hold a closed meeting Tuesday to talk about the state open-meetings law. The ironic closed session is scheduled for the Board of Supervisors' Jan. 3 meeting in order to brief members on the legal fine points of open meetings. "We're an elected body and we need to set the example for open government," said Supervisor Ann Day, justifying the need for the closed session. "It's a refresher, a preventive thing, so we set the example and don't make any mistakes," she said. The open-meetings law says all meetings of any public body must be public, and all legal action of public bodies must take place during a public meeting. It includes limited provisions for closing the doors to discuss such things as personnel, land purchases and legal matters. The planned session is not illegal, but it is odd, said Daniel Barr, leading Arizona lawyer in First Amendment issues and public records access with the law firm Perkins, Coie, Brown and Bain. "As ironic as it is, there is really no reason that discussion couldn't take place in public, Barr said. "At the same time, they (the board) can get legal advice from their attorney in executive session — that's OK under the law." Chris Straub, assistant chief civil deputy attorney, said the private session is needed so the board can ask questions and discuss the law. This meeting falls under attorney-client privilege, Straub said, noting there will not be discussions of any specific issue or case as relates to the law.
(Excerpt) Read more at azstarnet.com ...
This is rich.
BTTT
"Our question is, if they held a meeting on whether meetings on open meetings had to be open, would it be open or closed?"
Reminds me of graffiti seen at UCSD campus in 1976:
"Today's meeting of the clairvoyants society has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.