Widmyer: Meetings will be public

COEUR d'ALENE - Mayor Steve Widmyer said Thursday that the city made a mistake when it decided to exclude the media and the public from a walking tour of the "four corners" master planning area on Monday.

"I was not aware that it was not open to the public," he said, adding that he did not attend the meeting because he has already toured the area.

Widmyer believes that somewhere along the way there was a communications breakdown that resulted in the private walking tour.

The city hired Welch Comer Engineers to complete a master plan for a six-mile corridor of soon-to-be public property that mostly follows the waterfront from Independence Point along the Spokane River to Huetter Road.

According to Widmyer, Welch Comer formed a review committee last week comprised of nine people to discuss the timeline of the project.

"There was nothing decided at that meeting," he said. "It was just a meeting to explain the timeline and make sure that everyone was on the same page."

At that initial meeting, Widmyer said, Welch Comer invited the group to go on a walking tour of the site at 7:30 a.m., Aug. 18.

"I didn't go because it really wasn't a meeting," he said. "If there would have been a meeting, I would have attended."

Widmyer said he was not part of any decision to exclude the public or media from attending the walking tour.

On Wednesday, following the tour, city spokesman Keith Erickson said city staff made a decision to meet privately so the new committee members could share their ideas freely.

While on the tour, Erickson reported that committee members discussed several multimillion-dollar concepts which could be included in the master plan.

He also told The Press Wednesday that the public would be invited to attend several open meetings on the master plan in the future.

City Attorney Mike Gridley reviewed Idaho's Open Meeting laws and determined that the walking tour was exempt, but Widmyer said Thursday that any meeting where the review committee is convened will be open to the media and public.

The public might not always be invited to meetings between Welch Comer staff and individual groups, but if the committee meets with these groups or individuals, the meetings will be announced and open to the public.

"Those meetings will definitely be public," he said.