April 9, 2025 Editorial
The response from the Fire Board chair on why items were put in camera – is that there were legal implications to consider before those items could be discussed in public.
Even though the discussions themselves did not involve legal, land, or HR issues.
In some ways, that makes sense. Why waste the public and trustees time on a public discussion around something that the Board can’t end up doing?
Such as taking a loan on the District’s Capital Reserve.
But – there has to be a balance struck with having those discussions ahead of time, and flagging as part of the discussion that there may be a legal implications.
There has to be an acceptance on the part of the board that the past five years has seen an erosion in the public trust for the political arm of the Fire District.
(That’s not the same as an erosion of trust in the firefighters themselves.)
If that means longer meetings, and discussing matters to the point of admitting there are legal considerations, that’s what should be done.
The Board should not have in camera as the default setting.
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