NEWPORT — For months, Lincoln County Commissioner Casey Miller has unsuccessfully asked for a variety of items to be added to the commission’s agenda and met with little to no response.
Miller has wanted to place everything from updates on the county’s finances, to hiring procedures, to scheduling workshops, to discussing the county counsel’s performance on the board’s bi-monthly meeting agendas without avail.
So, when a new topic appeared on a rescheduled board meeting agenda Friday under the discussion portion of the session entitled “Agenda topics,” Miller was caught by surprise.
Commissioner Walter Chuck and counsel Kristin Yuille said the agenda item was a chance to respond to Miller’s list of requests.
In response to one request, Chuck said he did not feel that a meeting with the finance director ahead of already planned budget meetings was necessary since last year’s rising costs were largely salaries and insurance.
In regard to Miller’s concerns about filling the board’s third position — a process that is still three months in the making — Yuille said all four finalists were available April 20 for interviews and more details about the process would be coming soon.
Miller also asked previously to meet in executive session to discuss the county counsel and asked Friday if the board was legally obligated to meet in executive session with Yuille or if commissioners could meet without her if the session was properly noticed. Yuille said she would look into the matter before reporting back.
Miller also said that he would like to discuss alternating who has the role of chair during meetings. There were other topics he would also like to consider but said they could be revisited another day.
“It feels a little bit like a step forward,” Miller said. “So, I appreciate that.”
- Shayla Escudero/Lincoln Chronicle
This article treats this as a modest procedural improvement, but it glosses over the central problem. Miller’s written agenda requests still were not included in the public packet, even though they already existed in writing. Instead, he was expected to verbally restate them during the meeting if he wanted future consideration.
That is not real transparency. It also does not appear that Chuck or staff are held to the same standard. If the county truly wants the public informed, it should publish written agenda requests in the packet instead of making one commissioner ask for agenda access live from the dais.
Not every agenda request is appropriate. For instance, putting personnel matters on the agenda would be wrong. Putting anything on the agenda that is already a process (upcoming budget) would be a waste of valuable time. Give the process and those trying to shepherd this some some credit and grace.