Las Vegas Sun

June 3, 2012

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Sun editorial:

Keep government open

Henderson City Council’s closed-door meetings fail to provide transparency

Friday, Nov. 20, 2009 | 2:07 a.m.

During the past several months the Henderson City Council has gone into closed meetings to handle a few serious matters that could have been taken care of in public. We hope this is not the beginning of a pattern.

As Sam Skolnik reported in Wednesday’s Las Vegas Sun, two closed-door meetings this year have raised concerns about the council’s practices. In July the council met in a private session to appoint a new member to the council seat Andy Hafen vacated when he became mayor. Council members voted to narrow a list of applicants and then again to select a replacement.

When they came out of their session, the individual council members’ votes were not disclosed. The votes were made public only after a complaint was filed with the state attorney general’s office, which found that the council had violated the open meeting law by keeping the votes secret.

In September the council went into a closed session to discuss a Lake Las Vegas resort’s bankruptcy. The city is a creditor, and the city attorney recommended the council meet in private to discuss the matter. Two council members, Steve Kirk and Kathleen Boutin, voted against going into the private session. Kirk, who narrowly lost the mayoral race to Hafen, said the council had never gone into closed session for the issue before.

Hafen, however, defended the council’s actions. He said not disclosing the members’ votes on his replacement was a procedural mistake. Regarding the Lake Las Vegas matter, he said that was attorney-client privilege.

He said these instances shouldn’t raise a concern, but they do. They make us wonder whether the council sees closed-door meetings as a refuge on big or sensitive issues.

Council members must realize that just because their attorney says they have the legal right to go into a private session, doesn’t mean they should do so. Instead, they should choose openness and whenever possible conduct the public’s business in public.

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