City officials digging a deeper hole?
July 17, 2013
Update; According to a trusted source, neither city attorney was present following adjournment of the city council meeting.

With the recent spate of bad news regarding the governance of the City of Bonners Ferry, most would think that city officials would be on their best behavior. But based on reports of what happened following adjournment of Tuesday evening's city council meeting, that may not be quite the case.

The State of Idaho is very serious in requiring that the public's business be conducted in the open, and that all interested citizens be allowed to witness deliberations.

The state has a very clear set of rules on how any public agency within the state conducts business.

Idaho Code defines "public agency" as: (a) any state board, commission, department, authority, educational institution or other state agency which is created by or pursuant to statute, other than courts and their agencies and divisions, and the judicial council, and the district magistrates commission; (b) any regional board, commission, department or authority created by or pursuant to statute; (c) any county, city, school district, special district, or other municipal corporation or political subdivision of the state of Idaho; (d) any subagency of a public agency which is created by or pursuant to statute, ordinance, or other legislative act.

Pursuant to Idaho Code, all meetings of any "governing body" of an Idaho public agency must be conducted in public, with the exception of a few limited circumstances warranting meeting behind closed doors in executive session.

The state defines a governing body as, "the members of any public agency which consists of two (2) or more members, with the authority to make decisions for or recommendations to a public agency regarding any matter."

According to city resident Jerry Higgs, who attended, Tuesday evening's city council meeting  was routine, nothing out of the ordinary. It didn't get interesting, or suspicious, he said, until after the meeting was formally adjourned.

No executive session, he said, was called.

Under nearly any competent definition, "adjourned" means over, concluded. We're done, let's go home.

According to Higgs, all those in attendance at the meeting left council chambers, and several of them gathered outside and discussed city affairs for quite a while.

They noticed, he said, that they weren't followed by the usual contingent of city officials. Instead, they heard the door of city hall being locked behind them.

According to reports, Mayor Dave Anderson, council members Rick Alonzo, Tom Mayo and Connie Wells remained behind the locked door, as did city administrator Steve Boorman, and city clerk Kris Larson.

No one outside those locked doors know what those inside talked about. For all intents and purposes, they could have been having tea to celebrate the impending birth of British royalty.

Regardless of what went on behind those doors, witnessed by several who heard the bolt slide home and witnessed a quorum sitting in their customary places, it flew in the face of the stern Idaho stricture; "The people of the state of Idaho in creating the instruments of government that serve them, do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies so created. Therefore, the legislature finds and declares that it is the policy of this state that the formation of public policy is public business and shall not be conducted in secret." IC 67-2340.

If the allegations are true, Idaho Code 63-2347 sets out a range of penalties, nullifying any decisions rendered by the governing board made behind those closed doors, and providing various penalties for each individual member of the governing board sitting in violation of the statutes.

Allegations of violation of Idaho's open meeting law all but demand that a criminal investigation be launched, and opens the door for civil action by any person affected against the governing body as a whole and against each sitting member, be they appointed or elected.

In Idaho, by law, serving the public is a privilege. Election or appointment confers no benefit but the opportunity to serve the public's interest, openly and honestly, in full view of those whom they serve.