In its April 28 meeting, the board again flagrantly violated the Mutual Water Company Open Meeting Act. A shareholder pointed out in the March 31 board meeting that discussions in executive session are required to be “generally noted” in the minutes of the open session of the meeting. The general manager told the board that, instead, he would add an agenda item in which a report of such matters would be made at the next board meeting.
On April 21, another shareholder sent an email quoting from the statute:
Any matter discussed in executive session shall be generally noted in the minutes of the immediately following meeting that is open to eligible persons.
At the open session of the April 28 board meeting, the company’s legal counsel was called upon to report, and all she said was, “In the March 3 executive session there were no actions to report.” (There was no report about what happened in the March 31executive session.) Maybe it is true there were no “actions” in the March 3 meeting, but she did not report what was discussed, which is what the law requires. This was not a lawyer’s slip of the tongue. It is a deliberate board policy. Does anybody here believe they did not intend to hide from us what they discussed–and that they do not routinely have such illegal meetings? What accounts for the contempt they have for the the shareholders whose votes for reelection they will seek in a few weeks?
Part 1 of this series is here.
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