Into The City Council's Great Wide Open Session

A transparency deficiency exists at Ashland City Hall, particularly when it comes to the handling of closed sessions. City officials too often go behind closed doors to protect the interests of certain individuals — to heck with public interest. 

Tuesday night was a perfect opportunity for city officials to get it wrong, again. On Tuesday's agenda was an item allowing the planning commission and city council to convene a closed session to discuss the proposed sale of city-owned land at the industrial park to C.W.O. Auto & Scrap Removal, LLC.

There was no shortage of temptation to do this deal in secret. On Tuesday night, Mayor Bill Whalen repeatedly jiggled closed-session bait in front of planning commission members, who were first in line to deliberate the issue at the joint meeting.

After a public hearing on the proposal, Whalen asked members what they wanted to do: open or closed?

Commission Member Libby Sutton said she wanted to stay in open session to talk with neighbors living near the proposed C.W.O. site, along with C.W.O. representatives.

Whalen told Sutton that the commission could do both, meaning it could start in open session and go into closed session later.

The commission could have easily went along with Whalen's suggestion. After all, a little secrecy here and there at a council meeting never killed anyone, especially if the mayor says it's OK. Right?

But then Commission Member Betty Harnisch said, “I see no reason for the closed session.”

Whalen pushed one last time. “Well, you can have your open session, then you can …,” he said.

Harnisch repeated firmly, “I see no reason to go into closed session.”

Other members, including Tom Waby and Matt MacKenzie, also advocated for remaining in open session. Because Tuesday's meeting was a joint effort, city councilors also could have called for moving into closed session. But, planning commission members had set the tone. There would be no secrecy, not on this night.

Of course, no harm came from talking about the issue in the open. Sure, it was probably a humbling experience for C.W.O. owner Chris O'Connell, who almost had to beg for the property, about 4.7 acres (“I'm desperate,” he said.). O'Connell has said he needs to move some of his scrap yard operations from its current location on Holmes Road because weight restrictions on County Highway A prevent him from moving materials during certain times of the year.

Fortunately, planning commission members realized their job was not to shield anyone from the public scrutiny. Their job was to act on a proposal to turn a piece of public land into a scrap yard.

There is a lot at stake for the public with this issue. For one thing, taxpayers own the land in question. For another, the land is in a tax incremental financing district, meaning that property tax revenue generated from the district stays within the district to fund various improvements. There is also concern about how a scrap yard might affect the value of surrounding properties.

The odds were stacked against openness on Tuesday night. The Whalen administration has demonstrated it cannot not be trusted to see past its own political prerogatives, and city councilors aren't exactly a ray of sunshine on government operations, either. They usually take the administration's cue when deciding whether to clear the chambers of pesky reporters, citizens, etc.

Such an episode occurred in November when the council and administration went into closed session to deliberate the “purchase of vacant property,” according to the agenda. The public had no way of knowing that the council planned to purchase 52 acres of property south of the industrial park with intentions of expanding the park someday. After returning to open session, Whalen announced the purchase but didn't even state the sale price until this pesky reporter inquired after the meeting. The land sold for $151,000.

Say what?

Granted, the council can convene closed sessions to deliberate real estate transactions, according to state law. But, the proposal to expand the industrial park was as much a policy question as it was a real estate question. Just because real estate is involved, doesn't mean the public should be excluded from all deliberations. And if the public does need to be excluded, such exclusions should be defined before a closed session is convened so that the council isn't tempted to talk public policy behind closed doors.

Thankfully, there was no question about what was discussed Tuesday night. The yakking took place in the Great Wide Open, where it almost always belongs.