Good morning.
Tuesday’s forecast calls for a breezy day with a high of eighty-five.
Common Council in Whitewater meets tonight at 6:30 PM, to discuss recruitment plans for a new city manager, and then in closed session to select city manager finalists.
The Common Council agenda for this (partly) closed session is set up as it should be: (1) it lists the legal basis for going into closed session (“Wisconsin Statutes 19.85(1)(c) “Considering employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility” and 19.85(1)(e) “Deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of public properties, the investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business, whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session”) and (2) the item to be discussed (“Review of City Manager applications and selection of finalists and selection of questions to be used for interviews.”)
That’s how every agenda for a closed session should look, by law: it should have those two elements. Why? It’s a legal requirement because closed sessions are the exception, not the rule, and so a public body should be clear about why they’re undertaking an exception. (For an example of an agenda that’s deficient under Wisconsin law, as of this post, see the agenda for tomorrow’s Tech Park Board meeting. It lists a legal basis, but no items to be discussed.)
Here’s a simple checklist that a meeting’s chairperson should use to make sure an agenda describes a closed session adequately:
1. Need. Is there really a practical need for this closed session?
2. Law. Is there a provision of Wisconsin law that permits a closed session?
3. Business. What business, specifically, will be discussed in closed session?
4. Agenda. Does the agenda plainly state both the legal justification and the particular business to be discussed at a closed session? (The meeting’s chairperson should be the one to review a board or committee agenda before it’s posted.)
The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council has more links to open government resources helpful in organizing a meeting properly.
The New York Times archive has a link to their coverage of 9.11, including their front page at the time with news of the attacks.
On this day in 1903,
Auto racing debuts at The Milwaukee Mile
On this date William Jones of Chicago won a five-lap speed contest, setting the first track record with a 72 second, 50 mph lap in the process. The Milwaukee Mile was originally a private horsetrack, in existence since at least 1876, and is the oldest, continuously operating auto racing facility in the world. [Source:The Milwaukee Mile]
Google’s daily puzzle asks “Which man’s “bulldog” coined the term agnostic?”