This morning’s Coeur d’Alene Press dutifully reported the impassioned “Don’t gut the school district activities budget” speeches many citizens delivered to the School District 271 Board of Trustees (Board) at its meeting on January 12, 2009. What the newspaper didn’t report was the one act of civil obedience by a very courageous citizen.

As she stood at the ground level podium looking up at the School District 271 Board of Trustees and Superintendent seated behind a table on an elevated stage at the Lake City High School auditorium, Debbie Morris may have felt somewhat like the unidentified Chinese man in Associated Press photographer Jeff Widener’s now famous 1989 photo, “The Unknown Rebel”.   She was about to tell them something they probably didn’t expect to hear and almost certainly didn’t want to hear:  They were violating Idaho State law. 

Then she did something even more important:  After explaining to them how their conduct was in violation of Idaho’s Open Meeting Law , she asked the very critical question, “I want to know if you intend to continue this meeting,” to which Board Chairman Edie Brooks immediately answered, “Yes, we do.”

Ms. Morris’ assertion was that the Board had failed to give the required notice of the meeting location as required in Idaho Code 67-2343.  She noted that earlier announcements had listed the meeting site as the Midtown Center Meeting Room.  She also observed that even last night’s agenda passed out at the meeting said the meeting location would be the Midtown Center Meeting Room.  Ms. Morris stated there had been a suggestion over the weekend that the meeting might be changed to the Library Community Room.   She also stated that district employees had received emails notifying them of the new location (Lake City High School auditorium), but the public had not received sufficient notice as required by the law.

Between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. on January 12, 2009, the day of the meeting, the District’s website first indicated the new meeting location would be the Lake City High School auditorium.   The first reasonable opportunity the public had to learn of the new meeting location was six or seven hours before the meeting commenced.  

Debbie Morris correctly and responsibly made a timely objection to the Board’s proceeding with what she alleged to be an improperly announced public meeting.   Further, she put the Board on notice of their apparently illegal conduct, and Chairman Edie Brooks stated the Board intended to proceed anyway.

The remedy available to Debbie Morris is to submit an allegation with supporting evidence to Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney Barry McHugh and request he fulfill his statutory duty to act as provided in Idaho Code 67-2347. 

If the Board is found to have taken an action, or deliberated, or made a decision leading to an action during a meeting which failed to comply with Idaho Code sections 67-2340 through 67-2346, that action shall be null and void.  There were motions offered, seconded and passed that would be nullified by such a finding.

Further, the statute states that any member of the governing body (the Board), “…who knowingly conducts or participates in a meeting which violates the provisions of this act shall be subject to a fine not to exceed one hundred fifty dollars ($150) for the first violation and not to exceed three hundred dollars ($300) for each subsequent violation as a civil penalty.”

After hearing Ms. Morris’ timely objection, Chairman Brooks could have recessed the meeting and consulted with the District’s legal counsel.  (Arguably, they should have had the discussion long before the meeting location was changed.)  Instead, Chairman Brooks chose to proceed.  No member of the Board objected.  They knowingly conducted (Brooks) or participated in (Hemenway, Fredrickson, Newby, and Zipperer) a meeting which appears to have been in violation of the Idaho Open Meeting Law.  Conviction should attach personal responsibility to each participant.

I doubt that Debbie Morris believes the Board was trying to intentionally deceive the public.  Most people will likely see the Board’s changing the meeting location for a reasonable purpose — to accommodate more people with more available parking.  But this was not an emergency meeting.  It was a special meeting.  There was no urgency that justified the Board’s not rescheduling the meeting in compliance with the Idaho Open Meeting Law.  The meeting location was changed without proper notice simply for convenience.

After stating her position for the record, Debbie Morris returned to her seat to the sound of resounding silence from the audience and the Board.  People who stand up for compliance with the law often hear resounding silence from public officials.  Here in the City of Expedience, convenience often triumphs over compliance with the rule of law.

So let me say “Thank you!” to Debbie Morris for your courage in standing tall for civil obedience.  It’s lonely at the top of the integrity heap, isn’t it?