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JOSEPHINE COUNTY Josephine County commissioners violated open meetings laws Comment By Eder Campuzano Grants Pass Daily Courier MailTribune.com By Eder Campuzano Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Oct. 29, 2015 at 3:45 PM Updated Oct 29, 2015 at 4:10 PM By Eder Campuzano Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Oct. 29, 2015 at 3:45 PM Updated Oct 29, 2015 at 4:10 PM » Social News The Josephine County Board of Commissioners violated Oregon's public meetings law by holding closed-door sessions without proper justification, according to a ruling by the Oregon Government Ethics Commission. The ethics commission made the ruling after investigating a complaint filed in January by former county commissioner Sandi Cassanelli. The ethics commission ruled that commissioners Keith Heck, Cherryl Walker and Simon Hare violated state law when they discussed general county policies during three closed-door meetings that month and again in February. Walker was absent during the February meeting. The commissioners now have two choices: Appeal the findings and trigger a hearing, or negotiate a settlement. The ethics board sent a letter to each commissioner, which Walker and Heck say they have not yet received. Reached by phone Wednesday, Walker maintained that neither she nor her fellow county commissioners did anything wrong. "I am very familiar with public meeting laws," she said. "And that's why I'm absolutely incredulous. I haven't done anything, in my view, against the law." Heck also says the county commissioners haven't done anything wrong. He says his biggest concern is the amount of attention and county money the proceedings are costing. "The bottom line is the mountain that has been built by some folks is basically turning out to be a molehill," Heck said, "and the citizens need to understand that this hunt that is on in this particular case has cost at least over $5,000 of taxpayer money." Ethics Commission Executive Director Ron Bersin says officials usually opt to settle by paying a fine and participating in training related to the violation. The maximum fine in this case is $1,000, although the Oregonian newspaper this year found that the median fee negotiated by the state's public officials is $75. The ethics commission, even by Bersin's admission, is lenient with people it believes aren't willfully breaking the law. "You've got to remember that there are about 1,700 jurisdictions in the state of Oregon," he said. "The people who are on those are usually people who aren't well-versed in those statutes." Under Oregon law, all public bodies such as the Board of Commissioners are required to hold meetings in public. If there is a need to discuss legally sensitive information — lawsuits, employee discipline, etc. — a meeting may be temporarily closed. This is called an executive session. Although these discussions are closed to the public, news media may attend but can't report directly on the proceedings. The Daily Courier sends reporters to some executive sessions, but not the particular ones described in the investigation. "The public meetings law in Oregon is about open, transparent meetings," Bersin said. "To operate inside of executive sessions there are very narrow exceptions carved out in the law." All three county commissioners were present during executive sessions held Jan. 7, 14 and 21. They discussed employment practices at the Sheriff's Office, the county's vehicle use policy and public records policy. The ethics commission concluded that had the discussions centered on a particular employee's violation of a given policy, they would have qualified for the closed-door executive session. But because county commissioners discussed county policy in general, the discussion should have taken place in public. When commissioners discussed the vehicle use policy Jan. 14, for example, they only addressed passages in the fleet safety handbook, itself a public document. Likewise, the Jan. 7 executive session explored hiring and firing practices at the Sheriff's Office. Because neither meeting addressed a specific employee, they didn't meet the prerequisites for an executive session, the ethics commission concluded. Hare, Walker and Heck violated the law again Jan. 21 when they discussed the county's policy on public records during an executive session. On Feb. 4, Walker was absent during an executive session where Hare and Heck discussed a proposed franchise agreement with Charter Communications during a closed meeting. The two commissioners explored the county's rights and responsibilities in case the contract opened the county up to a lawsuit. Because there was no pending litigation to discuss — nor was it likely there would be — the ethics commission concluded the discussion wasn't covered under executive session statutes. Cassanelli, who served part of one term on the Board of Commissioners before she was recalled in December 2011, said she filed the complaint when she noticed the term "Matters from Commissioners" on the agenda for the executive session held Jan. 7. "They were using it as a catch-all to talk behind the public's back," she said. That particular item disappeared from the agenda in May, when a preliminary report from the ethics commission advised the Josephine County board that it was misleading — "Matters from Commissioners" could insinuate that any topic Heck, Hare and Walker planned to discuss during executive sessions was OK. Walker contends that because she, Hare and Heck conducted the closed-door conversations on the advice of county Legal Counsel Wally Hicks — and that he was in the room during those discussions — they're exempt from accusations of wrongdoing. Bersin, however, said it's a misconception that acting on the advice of legal counsel is a shield from the provisions of the Open Public Meetings Law. Misconceptions like that are why the ethics commission pushes for training instead of stiffer penalties, he added. Hare could not be reached for comment at the time of publication. By Eder Campuzano Grants Pass Daily Courier MailTribune.com By Eder Campuzano Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Oct. 29, 2015 at 3:45 PM Updated Oct 29, 2015 at 4:10 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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