MADISON COUNTY — Recently, MTN News received a tip that the Madison County Attorney reprimanded the Madison County Commission for hiring a finance director behind closed doors.
During the April 29th meeting, which is available on YouTube, the conversation quickly turns into a discussion about illegal meetings, which the County Attorney claims have happened before.
“I have to object that I did not authorize any sort of hiring in any sort of meeting like that,” said Bill Todd during the meeting.
Todd is one of the Madison County commissioners. He was talking about how the decision to hire a finance director for Madison County was done illegally, as it was not advertised to the public.
“Based on conversations with you, Commissioner Nye, Commissioner Todd was in the office, and then later with Commissioner Gilman, we were instructed to move forward with this candidate,” said one Madison County employee, who also said the meeting was not advertised.
“That would be an illegal meeting if we made a decision in that manner; it did not happen,” Todd said shortly after.
WATCH: Madison Co. Commission reprimanded for holding illegal meetings
Later in the meeting, Madison County Attorney David Buchler chimed in, saying it’s not the first time something like this has happened.
“There was an illegal meeting, and I’m going to take this opportunity to once again, urge you all, to abide by the open meeting laws,”said Buchler. “The fact there was a meeting where a decision was made is extremely troublesome.”
So, what are Montana’s open meeting laws? MTN’s Esha Walia spoke with Mike Meloy, a long-time litigator and former state representative who wrote and sponsored the open-meetings and public-records laws for Montana.
“A meeting of a public entity occurs when a quorum of the body comes together to talk about some item of business that’s under their jurisdiction,” said Meloy.
In the instance of Madison County, that means if two of the three commissioners are present and discussing county business, that is a quorum and must be advertised to the public.
Meloy says when it comes to decisions like the hiring of a finance director, meeting transparency is especially important.
“The basic reason for the open meetings law is to ensure the public’s trust in decisions that these people are making,” said Meloy.
Meloy says he believes open meeting violations like the one in Madison County happen because of the lack of knowledge around the laws, but that they can be remedied.
“I don’t think commissioners or school boards most of the times, they don’t intend to violate the open meeting laws, they don’t understand what they’re supposed to do, and I think, kind of, that’s what happened here,” said Meloy.
“I think you can cure a violation of the open meetings law by redoing a meeting, I mean, that’s the best way of doing it,” he added.
MTN’s Esha Walia reached out to all three Madison County commissioners and County Attorney Buchler for comment multiple times. Commissioner Todd declined to comment; Commissioners Nye and Gilman and County Attorney Buchler did not respond.
