They broke the law

 

The Iowa Public Information Board’s staff made a swift and important determination that a flood committee created by the Dickinson County Board of Supervisors illegally met in closed session on July 2 to discuss how to lower water levels of the Iowa Great Lakes.

 

The state authorities advised the Dickinson County attorney that the board of supervisors voted on June 29 to form the committee as the rising waters of the Okobojis threatened lakefront property and tourism business. A contentious public hearing followed at which Cherokee County officials expressed their frustration with the idea of releasing yet more water into the Little Sioux River by breaching a Dickinson County road that held the water back. Residents of Spencer, Sioux Rapids and Cherokee were rightly concerned that their flooding problems would only compound.

 

After the public venting, the committee moved behind closed doors to avoid criticism. Cherokee, Clay and Buena Vista County representatives were among the dozen officials who met privately to discuss flood mitigation.

 

That meeting was illegal, staff of the public information board informed Dickinson County, because the committee was created by the board of supervisors. It is required to admit the public and post an agenda. Our reporter and a representative of the Okoboji Protective Association were denied entry. Afterwards, we were told that no immediate action would be taken.

 

The Dickinson County attorney told the public information board that future meetings, if there are any, will be made public. That hints that they covered all they needed to in that July 2 closed meeting. The public deserves to know what was discussed, and in what context. A recording should have been made of that meeting. The recording and a transcript should be made public by Dickinson County, according to the Iowa Open Meetings Law. We all have an interest in knowing what the considerations will be in breaching controls of lake levels, and who actually determines when those breaches happen. Is it the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, or is it the Dickinson County engineer, or is it this subcommittee of the Dickinson County Board of Supervisors?

 

The Iowa Public Information Board informed Dickinson County on the error of its ways after the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, supported by this newspaper, requested it. For now, it remains an advisory to Dickinson County to respect the law and the public. County officials were made aware before the July 2 meeting that closing it to the public was illegal. They did it anyway. They ignored the public interest.

 

A violation of the open meetings law could result in a fine for those who participated.

 

We would settle for a transcript and promise to do better in the future.

 

The public interest is not served by secrecy.

 

The public information board has disappointed many times by not fully enforcing the law. We have called for its dissolution because it has been largely useless. We cannot remember a sanction held against public officials for blatant, conscious violations like this one. Board members have resigned in frustration.

 

The public information board was created to hold public officials to account because county attorneys were not doing the job. It was seen as a way for citizens to bring their complaint to an authority short of filing a lawsuit in district court. Unfortunately, nothing much happened when complaints were filed. We have first-hand experience.

 

So it was encouraging that the public information board’s staff reacted to the request from Iowa Freedom of Information Council Executive Director Randy Evans to intervene. We trust that it represents a turn for the public information board toward enforcing the open meetings law. We hope that local officials learn from the mistake, and trust the public with transparency and candor. First, release a transcript of the recorded public meeting. If no recording exists (another violation of the open meetings law) then the committee should produce a detailed report of the discussion. When will Dickinson County take matters into its own hands, how will that be justified, what role to state and federal authorities play in water management, and how can downstream interests be assured of protection from a whim? Until now, the only protection was a large crowd that scared the vested interests into secrecy. If you don”t know what the government is thinking, you don’t know when to run for cover.