[Bubba]

Here......maybe if you re-read the article it might help.

Official investigating open records complaint against board members

By Tim Vandenack

The Hutchinson News

tvandenack@hutchnews.com

DODGE CITY - An impromptu meeting of three Dodge City school board members last month is drawing attention from the county prosecutor here, though participants say they did not discuss official business.

Dan Reichenborn, the USD 443 board president, and two board members, Brian Winter and Kelly Henrichs, met Jan. 6 at The Alley, a youth center managed by Reichenborn.

Reichenborn said he was parked outside the center talking on his mobile phone when Winter and then Henrichs happened to drive by. Both men stopped, and the trio moved from The Alley parking lot into the youth center, according to Reichenborn.

Nonetheless, both Reichenborn and Winter emphasize that the encounter was unplanned and that school business was not discussed, though the board president gave Henrichs a workbook of USD 443 material.

"It was just happenstance," Winter said. Reichenborn said the three engaged in small talk.

Robert Heinz, however, who witnessed the gathering from afar, expressed skepticism that school affairs were not broached. He submitted an affidavit attesting to what he saw to Ford County Attorney John Sauer, asking that he investigate.

"It sure looked awfully suspicious to me," said Heinz, a former school board member and Dodge City firefighter who works at a fire station only a block or so from The Alley. In his affidavit, he said the three school board members were inside The Alley for at least 45 minutes, adding that "I can only assume" they were discussing school affairs.

Sauer couldn't immediately be reached for comment, though his office said the prosecutor is looking into the matter.

The Kansas Open Meetings Act prohibits unannounced gatherings of elected leaders for discussion of official business when the meeting represents the majority of a quorum. A quorum of the seven-member USD 443 board is four, which means private gatherings of two are permissible, but such meetings of three or more are off limits.

The act aims to prevent deliberation of official business outside the public eye, and Heinz's concerns notwithstanding, Reichenborn said he is well-aware of the limitations imposed by the law.

"We did not discuss school business at all, and we would not discuss school business anywhere but a (formal meeting)," he said.

The open meetings act doesn't prohibit gatherings of elected leaders when official business is not discussed. Still, Mike Merriam, an attorney for the Kansas Press Association, noted that legitimate claims of innocence notwithstanding, meetings by elected leaders outside the public sphere can raise eyebrows.

"It can raise appearance issues," he said.

Violators of the open meetings act can be subject to civil fines of up to $500.