Knowledge is power, attendees agree

COEUR d’ALENE — Familiarity with Idaho’s open meeting laws and public records laws is a benefit to public officials, media, and the citizenry alike, said participants at Idahoans for Openness in Government’s workshop Wednesday.

“It’s always beneficial to take a refresher course on Idaho public records law, particularly when you get the information straight from the attorney general. It’s nice to see a room full of folks who want to get it right,” said Tom Greene, communications coordinator for North Idaho College.

Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden was on hand to guide discussions and lend his years of insight into transparency issues. Assistant Chief Deputy Attorney General Brian Kane presented voluminous amounts of information in concise form to a full audience meeting at The Coeur d’Alene Resort. The local event was sponsored by the Coeur d’Alene Press.

Coeur d’Alene resident Phil Ward concurred with Greene, saying, “When you hear this, you wonder ‘Why are there issues?’ The law is clear.”

However, he also came out of the workshop wondering, “Why are there so many exemptions?” including those regarding executive session discussions.

Colton Galle, chair of Harrison’s planning and zoning commission, said the workshop was a benefit to him as a public official.

“I’m not real familiar with the whole open meeting and government-type stuff. This is kind of my first experience with it. With my wife serving on the school board and me being involved with planning and zoning, it’s beneficial for both of us to learn the laws,” he said.

Brett Boyer, Hayden city administrator and longtime public official, said the workshop was a helpful reminder.

“We always need to remember that we serve the public and what we do is the public’s business,” Boyer said.

City staff are always busy trying to get the city’s work done, he said, so it was also eye-opening to learn about the perspective of the media in seeking information to communicate to the public.

Though she had learned much of the material covered in the workshop previously thanks to Post Falls’ experienced city clerk, Amber Blanchette said the workshop was additionally instructional. The administrative assistant for Post Falls’ planning and zoning department said, “A lot of it was more of a refresher because she’s already gotten a lot of this information and passed it around to all of us. But it did open my eyes that maybe I should pay more attention to the emails I feel I don’t need to keep.”

Kane and Wasden discussed the fact that communications involving public business are public records, whether they are in emails, text messages, or other forms, and regardless of whether they are on personal cellphones or workplace computers.

Coeur d’Alene citizen Deborah Rose found the workshop informative and entertaining. “I can get information off of Dan (Gookin)’s cellphone if I want … I found that interesting, about being able to get information from personal devices,” she said, with Gookin standing nearby.