Public questioning county’s executive sessions

After completing a comparison of the amount of time the Washington County Commissioners have spent in executive sessions in the first three and a-half months of 2025 to the same time frame in 2024, Cambridge resident Mary Beth Schwartz told the board Monday, April 28, the difference is 1,004 minutes this year to 320 minutes last year.

 Introducing herself, Schwartz said she had come before the commissioners to voice her concern about the increase of time spent in executive sessions during the weekly county commission meetings.

 “Over the last few months, many people in the county, including myself, have become concerned about the increase in the amount of time spent in executive session,” Schwartz read from a prepared statement. “Transparency is core to building and keeping trust within any government, whether Federal, State, or local. Closed meetings are not transparent and do not build public trust.”

 Schwartz said she had come to her comparison numbers after going through all of the commission meeting minutes for the first three and one-half months of both 2025 and 2024. 

 “Because I was curious, I reviewed all 2024 meeting minutes and found that the total for all 12 months of 2024 was 926 minutes,” she said. “The Washington County Commissioners have already been in executive sessions for 78 minutes longer in three months of 2025, than for all 12 months of 2024.

 “I want you to know that executive sessions hurt your credibility as commissioners,” Schwartz added. “You need to be following the Idaho Open Meeting law, and executive sessions should be the rare exception, rather than the rule.”

 Schwartz read from the Idaho Open Meeting Law manual, concluding with: Those who conduct meetings must remember this policy above all when deciding whether a meeting should be open. If a meeting is closed, there must be a compelling reason, supported by the statute itself, or by subsequent court rulings. Remember, when in doubt, open the meeting.

 “This passage alone should be enough to make anyone in our county stop and think whether executive sessions/closed meetings are building trust or destroying it,” Schwartz said. “While there may be some legitimate reasons to go into executive session, from all outward appearances, the commissioners are abusing this authority.”

 Responding to Schwartz’s question as to why the commissioners have spent so much more time behind closed doors, Nate Marvin and Gordon Wilkerson each submitted replies.

 “First off, executive sessions can only be over two or three items,” Marvin said. “Personnel issues and litigation against the county are the two we normally deal with. A lot of times we go into executive sessions on the advice of our prosecuting attorney. If you notice in the minutes, we refer to IC 74-206 1c, that’s negotiations or it can be a or b, to consider personnel matters. Typically the only ones allowed in executive sessions are people invited by either the chairman or the prosecuting attorney.”

 Schwartz said she understands those reasons, “but I hope you understand what I’m coming forward with.

 “This year, you’ve already been in these executive sessions 1004 minutes, versus this time a year ago 320 minutes,” she said. “I think that’s concerning for all of us because we need to know what’s going on. When things aren’t apparent to us, we become concerned. The length of time spent in those executive sessions since the first of the year versus prior times, is very concerning and, not just to me, but to many others in the county.”

 Wilkerson said the county is facing some lawsuits.

 “One of them is for $1 million,” he said. “It was mitigated, and I’m not going any further. Right now the county is facing a $10 million lawsuit. I’m facing a $1 million lawsuit personally on issues that were brought up a year, two years ago. I’m not going any further. There’ve been personnel issues we’ve had to deal with and I’m not going any further. There’ve been a lot of problems that we’re trying to clean up and I’m very sorry this is happening.”

 Wilkerson went on to say the current prosecuting attorney is much more rigid than previous prosecutors.

 “If he catches us discussing things between ourselves he reminds us that we can’t do that,” Wilkerson said. “We have made no decisions in our executive sessions. The decisions that have been made have come out to open meetings. So, that’s where we’re at now.”

 The final item on Monday’s agenda was meeting with Prosecutor True Pearce at 11:30 a.m. The board immediately went into executive session, coming out of the session and adjourning at 1:52 p.m.