Mayor Rogeor has released a statement regarding her office's review of E-911 board email communications about the E-911 radio contract, saying that several emails "indicate potential violations of the state Open Meetings Act by members of the E-911 Board of Directors," including one email that she received.

Full statement after the break...

MAYOR ROGERO’S STATEMENT ON E-911 BOARD COMMUNICATIONS

Mayor Madeline Rogero issued this statement today on communications via email between E-911 Board members:

“In compiling documents for a records request from the News Sentinel, City staff found several emails that indicate potential violations of the state Open Meetings Act by members of the E-911 Board of Directors. Some of them are direct communications by Board members about the proposed radio system contract under consideration by the Board, and others refer to outside conversations and meetings that suggest the possibility of further Sunshine Law violations.

I am the recipient of one of these emails – a note from KPD Chief David Rausch on August 14, 2014. It summarized his conversation with a Harris representative about Chief Rausch’s belief that the City did not get a fair voice in the process and that the transition costs with Harris would be greater. Therefore, Chief Rausch’s inclination was to vote against the contract. He anticipated that the Harris representative would come to see me, and the chief wanted me to understand his position. I was not participating in the contract deliberations directly nor was I directing my proxy, so it did not occur to me that this might be a violation of the Open Meetings Act. I should have recognized it.

I will be voting at the next E-911 Board meeting so, on the advice of the City Law Director, I have not personally reviewed the other emails because I am told they include information that should be discussed only in a properly noticed public meeting. I am told by the Law Department that it isn’t clear from the emails whether Board members were aware of Sunshine restrictions on their communications outside public meetings. Regardless, the Open Meetings Act doesn’t differentiate between deliberate and inadvertent violations.

The Open Meetings act and case law are clear that the remedy for any Sunshine violation is full, public discussion and consideration of the issue at hand. So these apparent violations reinforce the legal and ethical obligation of the E-911 Board to meet and fully discuss the radio system contract. We have already called a special meeting of the Board for next Wednesday, February 18th, and I look forward to full public discussion of the issue.

I have asked the City Law Director to begin a full review of the role of City staff in the process. I want to understand what happened and I want a plan to better communicate our expectations and the proper policies and procedures to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.”