Three Seward County commissioners met Oct. 26 outside of public meeting, according to information that surfaced during the board’s Oct. 30 open meeting.
On Oct. 30, Board Chairperson Roger Glawatz began discussion on an agenda item to move supervision of the zoning and weed control department to the county attorney’s office to avoid conflicts of interest.
Becky Paulsen, who serves as the county’s zoning administrator, was recently appointed as a county commissioner.
Glawatz said the proposal would move her office from the board’s supervision to the county attorney’s. Read more on this topic HERE.
No action was taken on the agenda item. The board will discuss it at its Nov. 20 meeting.
Glawatz said this proposal to move the zoning department was discussed Oct. 26, after the county’s special claims meeting, with Paulsen, Commissioner John Culver and County Attorney Wendy Elston.
Because the board has five total members, three members meeting together is a quorum. A quorum is the minimum number of board members that are needed to hold a public meeting.
The meeting with the county attorney that day was not publicized nor are there minutes from it.
Elston did not speak during the Oct. 30 meeting, but did provide statements in a Nov. 1 phone interview. She said the Oct. 26 meeting was not a violation of the Open Meetings Act because board members can meet as long as they are not discussing an agenda item and they’re not taking official action.
She gave an example that all five members of the board could attend a training event without it being a violation.
However, the Open Meetings Act section 84-1409 states that any meeting where a public body—in this case, the three commissioners—discusses public business or the formation of tentative policy falls under the definition of “meeting.”
Section 84-1410(4) of the Open Meetings Act also states that “no closed session, informal meeting, chance meeting, social gathering, email, fax or other electronic communication shall be used for the purpose of circumventing the requirements of the act.”
Elston said the issue to move zoning’s supervision was not an agenda item at the time of the Oct. 26 meeting.
On Nov. 1, Glawatz said they discussed the issue Oct. 26 with the intent that it would be on the Oct. 30 agenda.
He said a decision was not solidified Oct. 26 and the meeting was to plan ahead for the Oct. 30 public meeting so it would run smoothly. He said decisions are never finalized outside public meetings.
Glawatz also said he thought he, Culver and Elston were speaking with Paulsen as the zoning administrator. However, Paulsen said Oct. 30 that she was clocked out of her zoning job and acting as a commissioner.
amanda@sewardindependent.com
