Frequent readers know that, last week, I ran a series entitled, “Witch-Hunting a Blogger in Whitewater, Wisconsin,” in which I posted public records that showed how public officials used their resources, time, and effort against the lawful, pseudonymous commentary. (For that series, please click this link: Witch-Hunting a Blogger in Whitewater, Wisconsin.)
There is another email exchange from the public records that I received that addresses a concern I noted from my December series. I have contended previously that our Police and Fire Commission falls below Wisconsin’s required standards for adequate notice, including thorough agendas published before a meeting, and detailed minutes published after a meeting.
In an email from the public record, dated December 18th 2007, City Clerk Michele Smith writes to Whitewater Police Chief Jim Coan to inform him that, based on Wisconsin law, the agendas published over these last years have been inadequate.
It matters because without adequate, thorough notice — citizens have reduced opportunities or incentive to attend — as they are allowed to do by Wisconsin law — a public meeting.
The mail appears below in black font, followed by the actual PDF documents I obtained, and then my commentary in blue font.
The email:
From: Michele Smith
Sent: Tuesday, December 18,2007 10:36 AM
To: James Coan
Subject: Police & Fire Commission
Hi Jim,
I’ve cut and pasted the most recent Free WW info re Police & Fire Commission. I meant to call you Friday but have been so busy with election work & agenda work I haven’t had time.
John Adams is writing on the PFC minutes. I talked to Kathy Boyd a little over a month ago, and when Adams first inquired about Agendas and Minutes for PFC, I started looking at them and noted that the Agendas PFC has are not in compliance with Statutes. The Agenda has to specifically identify each item the group will be discussing – Chief’s Report and Old Business / New Business don’t qualify as it doesn’t give the public specific information as to what will be discussed. I told Kathy I will help with the next agenda.
I did speak to Kevin about this subject on the blog as I am worried about the legality of the agendas PFC has issued. If something came of the agendas, which I do not believe comply with the Law, I did not want him to get blind sighted [sic].
Sorry, Jim – meant to get to you earlier, but am overwhelmed with work.
Michele
The files:
I have made the PDF files confirming this exchange available here — 2008-1 (10). (Please scroll the the end of the file to see the actual email.)
My comments:
1. Inadequate. I wrote in December that I thought that the agendas were inadequate — and failed under Wisconsin law. I am not alone in that view — the City Clerk of Whitewater, Wisconsin thinks so, too.
2. Where’s Chief Jim Coan? The law requires that Jim Coan send any public records specified in my request, and that requirement would include any email reply that he made to the city clerk. I received none, so did he make no reply via email? Did he reply to these concerns at all?
If he made no reply, then at least he is consistent — I am convinced that the agendas for our Police and Fire Commission have been inadequate for years. Inadequate agendas reduce the incentive for citizen attendance. No citizen attendance, no true community oversight as Wisconsin expects by setting out agenda requirements.
3. Where’s City Manager Kevin Brunner? To be City Manager is to be manager of all the community. The law requires that Jim Coan send any public records specified in my request, and that requirement would include any email that Brunner would have sent to Chief Coan on this matter concerning her concerns. I received none, so did Brunner send no email to Coan about these inadequate agendas? Did he reply to these concerns at all? What did he say? He has been, after all, in office for years.
Did our city manager speak to Coan himself? The email makes it seem as though Coan only learned of this concern from the city clerk. Did Brunner not trouble himself to speak to Coan himself? It is a matter of Wisconsin law, after all.
To manage the city — to be the leader one wants to be, and to be truly how one wants to be seen — is to step forward and be accountable, and to hold others accountable.
4. Where are the Members of the PFC? In all these years, there is no record that I can find in the tissue-paper minutes of our PFC that asks for better, reasonable agenda items. Never.
5. My challenge, unanswered. In a post entitled, Police and Fire Commission: February Meeting, I offered three questions — here they are —
Here are three questions, though:
(1) When the notice for a Wednesday, 2/20 PFC meeting comes out on Friday, 2/15, doesn’t that seem that the two weekend days reduce the available exposure & attention the meeting will receive?
(2) Was this meeting announced on the main page of the City of Whitewater website, like other meetings? I don’t recall seeing it there.
(3) If the agenda link on the website doesn’t work until after the meeting, what kind of website notice is that?
At the City of Whitewater website, as of this morning, there is a link to a February 20th agenda of the Police and Fire Commission. It doesn’t open properly as of this post, but it’s there. (The January 10th Special Meeting agenda of the PFC also mentioned that there would be a 2/20 — presumably regular — meeting.) I have two questions:
1. Did the meeting take place? I can’t tell, of course, from a broken link to an agenda.
2. If there were a meeting on February 20th, how did the City of Whitewater publicize it? I do not recall seeing it announced on the main page of the City of Whitewater website. The law requires notice (albeit short); most commissions and boards in our city in practice provide much better notice than the law requires.
The Whitewater PFC does not follow that practice. As I have noted before, this significantly reduces the chances for citizen participation, in what should be one of the best-announced meetings in Whitewater.
The members of the Commission are free — yes, you really are, under the law — to offer an explanation.
Comment on a public duty should always be more important than silence to maintain social standing, or for any other reason.
I can be reached at adams@freewhitewater.com.