Elko County Commission violates open meeting law, AG says

Sandra Chereb

Thursday, July 29, 1999 | 2:19 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Elko County commissioners violated Nevada's open meeting law when a tape recorder was repeatedly turned off during a public meeting and proper minutes weren't kept, the attorney general's office said.

But Deputy Attorney General Victoria Oldenburg said an investigation of the April 1 meeting in Wells concluded the violations were unintentional and no legal action would be taken against the commission.

The probe was requested by Kristen McQueary, chief civil deputy in the Elko County District Attorney's Office.

In a letter sent to McQueary on Wednesday, Oldenburg said commissioners also violated the law when they made changes to tentative budgets of various county departments at the same meeting.

The changes were illegal because the budget was not listed as an "action" item on the commission's meeting agenda as required by law.

"The commissioners honestly believed that because the meeting was designated a 'workshop,' and because no formal votes concerning the decisions were taken, that they could make decisions without violation the open meeting law," Oldenburg said. "Such a conclusion is grossly incorrect."

But Oldenburg noted that department budgets were subsequently discussed, modified and approved at properly noticed public meetings later on.

Regarding gaps in the tape-recorded meeting, Oldenburg said the record shows the tape machine was shut off 18 times. Three of those times were for breaks during the day-long meeting.

She said the machine was turned off at the direction of Commissioner Tony Lesperance during discussion of the State Water Plan and staffing concerns raised by the county clerk because Lesperance considered the topics 'sensitive' and 'confidential.'

Discussion of the district's attorney's bargaining unit also took place without being recorded because commissioner's believed such matters were exempt from the law.

Oldenburg said state law requires public bodies to keep written minutes of meetings, including "the substance of all matters proposed, discussed or decided."

She added that if a public body is going to relay solely on tape recordings as a record of open meetings, "the recording should be kept on at all times, with the exception of breaks."

"The commission spent an undetermined amount of time off the record apparently discussing budget items and related personnel and labor issues, yet the minutes are completely silent about the substance of the discussions," Oldenburg wrote.

Oldenburg said the attorney general's office "would be justified" in seeking an injunction and a court order to have the minutes amended.

But because the commission has no previous open meeting law violations and accurate minutes have been taken in the past, "This office believes that a better approach ... is to provide guidance and serve warning in order to avoid any future transgressions of this nature," she said.