Complaint leads to open meeting law violation

Washington County commissioners acknowledged a violation of the open meeting law occurred in November after a local citizen made a formal complaint to the county clerk.
 At a special and short meeting on Thursday the three commissioners said they would correct the violation at their Feb. 18 meeting. The commission meeting room on Thursday was crowded with about 40 members of the public.
 Prosecuting attorney Delton Walker outlined the details of the open meeting law violation that occurred on Nov. 18. It was at that weekly commission meeting that county planning department administrator Chad Brock was fired. The termination took place without putting an action item on the agenda.
 Commissioners Kirk Chandler and Lisa Collini supported the move to terminate Brock, while commissioner Nate Marvin suggested some sort of mediation instead of termination.
 Walker said there was “somewhat of a vote taken” on Nov. 18 by the two commissioners who wanted to terminate Brock’s “at-will” employment with the county.
 “There was basically two votes for and one against,” he said.
 According to Idaho law, “An agenda item that requires a vote shall be identified on the agenda as an action item to provide notice that action may be taken on that item.”
 The complaint that was filed with the county clerk asserts that Marvin was not in violation. His comments during the Nov. 18 meeting indicate that he wanted to mediate as opposed to firing Brock.
 The commissioners took the move to “cure” the violation on Tuesday. They declared the Nov. 18 agenda null and void and then immediately approved a corrected agenda and Brock’s firing.
 Chandler and Collini voted to fire Brock, while Marvin was the dissenting vote and opposed it.
 Walker said the special commission meeting on Thursday was an acknowledgement of the open meeting law violation, but it did not require public comment and none was taken.