Friday, May 30, 2008

LT Editorial 5/25/08

Updated: 5/25/2008 8:32:02 AM

Closed meetings should be taped to protect all
The Wisconsin Newspaper Association, which has 265 members, including the Leader-Telegram, is backing a proposal that would force local governments to record and maintain minutes of all closed meetings.

If such a system were in place in February 2007, Bill Klaus most likely wouldn't be on administrative leave from his job as principal of Northstar Middle School, and former Eau Claire school board President Carol Olson wouldn't find herself in the middle of an investigation by the current school board and the Eau Claire Police Department.

When Klaus moved from superintendent to Northstar principal, he reportedly asked that he begin receiving stipend payments - a five-year retirement cash benefit that in Klaus' case is worth $225,000 - starting in August 2007. Other district employees don't start receiving stipends until they retire. His recollection is that the board approved the arrangement. Olson apparently recalled the same thing, and in summer 2007 she signed and backdated a memo approving stipend payments for Klaus starting in August 2007.

But that's not what other school board members recalled. In fact, they remember nothing of the sort, and that's why this situation looks so bad.

Minutes obtained by the Leader-Telegram from the school board's February 2007 closed session at which the matter was discussed give no indication the board approved the early stipend payments, but Klaus contends those minutes are incomplete.

Had that meeting been taped, Klaus, Olson and other board members could have listened to what was said and quickly determined if the early stipend payments were approved.

Reluctance to record or keep detailed minutes of closed sessions no doubt is on the advice of some legal experts who see such "evidence" as a red flag to anyone looking for a reason to sue or otherwise cause mischief for the school district. But there's also a risk in not recording your discussions, because when a conflict arises over what did or didn't happen, there is nothing to fall back on other than people's recollections. That's no way to run an operation responsible for tens of millions of dollars in other people's money.

Eau Claire City Council member Dave Duax rightfully believes elected bodies should keep detailed records of what goes on in closed session so they can be reviewed months or even years later if needed. That's simply good management, and if that means being careful what you say in closed session, so be it.

Judges asked to release closed session records would have to balance the public interest in releasing the information against the privacy rights of people whose reputations may be harmed if the information is let out. Other times if the elected body is negotiating a land purchase, the public may be better served if that information remains secret, at least in the short term.

Open government is at the bedrock of who we are as a people. Our collective attitude should be that the activities of government will be open unless there is a clear and compelling reason to go behind closed doors, and even then what goes on there should be recorded to ensure everyone agrees what took place.

You never know when it might be important.

- Don Huebscher, editor

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Another of the "ifs" Don Huebscher might have added is that if Ecasd had a more open policy and wider
open distribution of information, it would not be in the PR mess it is in now.

They are working on fixing that with a better
communication effort on the web site and other efforts.

Doubts, suspcions, and conspiracy theories
magnify and proliferate in the dark.