Iowa Department of Education

Personal Liability for Open Meetings Law Violation

The Iowa Court of Appeals on November 9, 2005, upheld a finding that county supervisors violated Iowa Code Chapter 21, the Open Meetings Act. One supervisor settled out of court; the remaining two supervisors were ordered to pay attorneys fees to the media that sued them in the amount of $22,645.93. (This judgment was entered against the two supervisors "jointly and severally," meaning that the plaintiffs could collect any part of the total amount from both supervisors or could choose to collect all of it from either one of the supervisors.)

1.   A special agenda for a meeting of the Board of Supervisors to discuss the county's budget was posted, after which a revised agenda was posted giving a new time (same date) for the meeting; 9:00 a.m. was the time in the special agenda; 2:00 p.m. was the time in the revised agenda.

2.   The supervisors met at 9:00 a.m. and were advised by the county attorney that any meeting held before 2:00 p.m. would be a violation of Chapter 21.

3.   The supervisors decided that as long as they didn't take any action until 2:00, they could discuss the budget. They proceeded to discuss the budget at length. No one showed up for the budget meeting until 2:00.

The Court of Appeals ruled that the revised agenda cancelled the special agenda, so any meeting before 2:00 p.m. was in violation of the Open Meetings Act. Discussion without action did not cure this violation.

There are three defenses that are available to an elected public official in such cases. None applied here, but the three are as follows:

• That the member voted against the closed session.
• That the member had a good faith belief that s/he was in compliance with the Open Meetings Act (not even close in this case where NO ONE showed up until the 2:00 meeting).
• That the member reasonably relied upon a court decision or the formal opinion of the attorney general or the attorney for the governmental body.