Mayor Richard Woodland says "Open Meeting Law not violated"

Tools

Story Published: Nov 13, 2009 at 4:08 PM MST

Story Updated: Nov 13, 2009 at 6:18 PM MST

By Steven Pope

Video
REXBURG - Rexburg City Council has been getting flack over the way they appointed Richard Woodland as mayor.

A formal complaint has been filed with the Attorney General because Maria Nate believes the State's Open Meeting Policy has been violated.

I took this up with the Rexburg mayor, and asked him some direct questions, "Did you know beforehand the council was going to appoint you as mayor?"

"I did not, I was surprised," answered Mayor Richard S. Woodland.

"Didn't the council ask you to take the job beforehand during the application process?" I asked.

"They had asked me. There was a couple of fellows who had asked me, you'd make a good mayor," said Woodland.

"Was the application process just a ruse?"

"No, not at all. It wasn't a ruse. We thought we should go outside and ask for names to be submitted, and we went outside," replied Woodland.

"Did you or any other council member violate a law?" I asked.

"No, we were very careful about that," replied Woodland.

"There was no meeting held?" I implied.

"No meeting held." agreed Woodland.

The Idaho Open Meeting Law Manual section 67-2341 (2) is what Maria Nate believes was violated.

"And how do you feel like they violated that?" I asked Nate.

"According to the Attorney General's Open Meeting Law Manual, I believe efforts were made to avoid meeting as a quorum. And they did this with smaller meetings as less than a quorum, or having to go between contacts," answered Nate.

The City Council made it clear their decision to appoint a current council member was based on the limited time Woodland would spend as Mayor.

"It takes about two years to learn. If we had chosen somebody who wasn't on the council in two years time, they would just be getting to know what's going on," answered Woodland.

Maria Nate was on Donna Benfield's election campaign, and many believe she wouldn't be causing commotion if the council had appointed Benfield as Mayor.

Current Weather

Icon
Current Temp 32.0 °F
Mostly Cloudy
Video
More Weather

Upload directly from your mobile device.

Learn how

YouNews

This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.

On Demand

Resources and info you need to prepare for the switch to DTV.

Stay Connected

Viewer Poll

Since state law requires a balanced state budget, Gov. Otter is concerned that falling tax revenue might force the state to make much deeper cuts than currently planned. What do you think about the Idaho law requiring a balanced budget?

  • It seemed like a good idea at the time, but these are unusual times. How much more can we cut out of education, etc.? We need to revisit the balanced budget law.
  • If more education funding and state services need to be cut, so be it. Sometimes it's painful to live within a budget, but it's the right thing to do.
  • Not sure.

Connect with KIDK