Success is never final; failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts.
I have not made it to council meetings as you all know. It is not because I do not care nor is it because I am no longer interested but I find I must sit back and let others take on the reporting now for their empowerment.
Alcester City Finance Officer David has video-taped and made city council meetings available to the public and the mayor and council have supported him in this endeavor. It is a great move forward.
I have heard accounts which have arisen and while I cannot report them because I did not witness them myself. I will however, take this opportunity to suggest some changes for the council to look into with the idea of adopting.
Regarding legal issues and legal advice, I would suggest to the council to take these steps into policy. First when the city goes into Executive Session, it is my opinion that complete notes are kept by the city and by the city attorney for the purposes of legal standing. It is imperative for both the mayor/city council and the city attorney each have an approved record of what was discussed for archival purposes. These ES (Executive Session) minutes would not be subject to open records request and would only be accessible through Judiciary approved access.
The logic behind these ES special session records would be to the protection of the council and the city attorney equally and severable. The city attorney’s purpose is to advise the city of on actions available, actions which could or should be taken and possible consequences of actions arising out of any issue which may come before the council regarding legal issues. The Mayor and Council may take this advice verbatim, ignore the advice in part or in whole, or come up with a mutually agreeable position per statute the City/Mayor may take on any given issue.
This recording of discussion and minutes would come into play in the event where the council makes a decision to act solely upon advice of the city attorney basing their collective decisions and relying on the advice of legal counsel.
Where this is comes into play is when legal counsel advices a mayor and city council to take a particular action for which the Mayor and City council are consequently sued jointly and severally. This means the council is sued as a group and individually and the city attorney tells the group, “You will have to each have to have your own attorney, I cannot represent you.” So, who bears the cost? How does the group prove they acted upon advice of counsel?
In addition, the city of Alcester must require an itemized billing statement each month for services rendered and for which the city attorney is billing the city of Alcester. This itemized statement would report how many hours were spent on each issue before the city for that month, how many meetings and hourly fees charged with non-council players. i.e. Geoff Fillingsness, law enforcement for the city and et.al. How many court appearances, petitions, briefs and other necessary filings in local courts are being billed for each month with a final summary of all time spent on each issue at its completion, decision and awards levied against the city or awards in payment to the city. The Council and Mayor need this information to make their decisions.
I have spoken to the council in session toward this inventory in the past and I did have a short conversation with City Attorney Sam Nelson after that request. I am aware of the privacy of Executive Session but the itemized statement and the minutes of the Executive Session would be kept private unless a Judge releases and/or declares the information public in nature. Executive Sessions are not public generally due to the sensitive nature of employee discussions, contractual discussions, and so-forth which may set an individual up for public censure. Having been the target in an Executive Session in which I requested/wanted the session to be public and recorded. was denied with a law-school-student-city-council-member making the statement, “…Executive Session was for the protection of the council not me…”
The Mayor and Council need to have this record and itemized statements in written/recorded form to be able to put up a reasonable defense of any actions taken by the council jointly or severally.
Vickie A. Larsen
A Voice from the Gallery 