Commissioner Kittelman's Private Committee Goes Public

Background: Originally published December 6, 2006. This is a column that goes into more detail about Oregon Public Meetings laws than most people would probably care to read about. However, it serves as a reminder that the public, and the news media, need to remain vigilant in order to keep their elected officials accountable to the public.

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME
     I've used the expression "a rose by any other name" before, during the past three years and eleven months that I've written a column for the North County News. It's an expression that's worth repeating again, based on the current debate over a "private" O & C funding shortfall committee recently created by the Douglas County Commissioners.
     I've seen some clever attempts to circumvent Oregon Public Meetings laws during the fourteen years that I've been a reporter in southern Oregon. Perhaps my favorite incident occurred last year in the Rogue River school district. The school board was in the middle of heated negotiations with the unions.
     In order to avoid giving advance notice of when they were meeting, the school board passed a resolution declaring they would be in "continuous special session." The news media and concerned parties would therefore not know when and where the school board, a publicly-elected body, would be meeting to discuss the issues.
     Douglas County Commissioners currently state (at least none of them have stated otherwise) their newly-created advisory committee is a private group of people with no decision-making power, and are therefore not subject to Oregon Public Meetings laws. Therefore, the advisory committee is entitled to meeting in private without any scrutiny of their actions.
     Douglas County Commissioners have either never read the Oregon Attorney General's public meetings manual, or else they're getting their advice from the wrong attorney. ANY board, panel, committee, or group of people that is selected by a public body falls under the definition of a public body, and if therefore bound by Oregon Public Meetings laws. It doesn't matter if one calls the group a public committee, a private committee, or strawberry pie. A rose by any other name is still a rose.
     Here's where the fine line is drawn. If Marilyn Kittelman had simply selected five people to advise her, there wouldn't be an issue. Just as David Jacques now provides her with political advice, a government official is free to choose as many people as they want to provide them with advice, and they can meet in secret as often as they want. Oregon Public Meetings laws do not apply.
     The current controversy was created the moment that all three Douglas County Commissioners signed off and approved the formation of the committee during a public meeting. The O and C committee is no longer a private group of people giving advice to one county commissioner. The Committee is now a legally-sanctioned public body created by another public body of three county commissioners.
     The pending loss of O & C money poses a grave threat to Douglas County government. It represents a loss of HALF the income for many counties in the region. I don't believe the general public is fully aware of the impact that may have on county services, such as the library, parks, county sheriff, etc.
     In Josephine County, the sheriff's office may have to cease patrols altogether. They currently have only two patrol deputies on duty at any one time in the county. The Josephine County library in Grants Pass is only open three days a week, and is expected to fully close next year. Douglas County is somewhat better off because of a cash reserve; Josephine County has none. But Douglas County's funding dilemma is still only one or two years behind Josephine County's current crisis.
     It would be a shame if the O & C funding crisis in Douglas County becomes muddied itself over the legality of the advisory committee. To end on a positive note, Douglas County Commissioners deserve praise for all the hard work they put into the job. I never thought I'd see the day when the weekly commissioner meetings would be broadcast on local television! Now, there's no excuse for anyone to miss a commissioner's meeting and become better informed of what's going on.
     The weekly meetings are broadcast three different tines on Charter Cable TV: live Wednesday mornings at 10:00, and re-broadcast Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons at 2:00.

[2014 note: I'm sad to say the commissioner meetings are no longer broadcast on public access TV. Supporters say they didn't have the money to continue paying someone to operate the television equipment. Opponents say the move was politically motivated, because some commissioners didn't like the "grandstanding" made my citizens during the public comment portion of the meeting.]