[valo403]

Originally Posted by troutman

Closed Glendale council-NHL meetings raise concern


http://www.azcentral.com/community/g...-concerns.html

The dearth of public discussion comes despite a council-set deadline in three weeks to have the matter settled. It’s unclear when residents will hear details and get to offer opinions on an arena deal that is expected to cost the city millions of dollars a year.

The council members met privately with the hockey executives on May 28. They convened in groups of one, two and three during a series of back-to-back meetings.

The limited attendance of elected officials during the serial briefings was important.
If four of the seven council members had attended the same meeting, the Open Meeting Law would have required the meeting to be conducted in public.

Instead, the hockey executives repeated their presentation four times throughout the morning. All four meetings were private.

There’s reason to suspect that the council purposefully circumvented the law, depriving the public of its right to listen to deliberations, said David Bodney, a First Amendment attorney who represents The Arizona Republic.

“If meetings were scheduled to discuss essentially the same thing or things sequentially to avoid the requirements of the Open Meeting Law, then there would be a violation of statute,” Bodney said.

Glendale interim City Attorney Nick DiPiazza said there was no intent to circumvent the law, because the private get-togethers were not actual meetings.


Does the Glendale City Council need to be more open about the Phoenix Coyotes/ arena situation?
Yes. The public absolutely has a right to know more. 75.23% (167 votes)

That's amazing