City attorney warns CVB
Lenkowsky finds ‘palpably inadequate’ agenda items

The city attorney warned a local tourism organization after finding Arizona Open Meeting Law requirement violations.

City Attorney Paul Lenkowsky recently reviewed the Convention and Visitors Bureau’s Sept. 16 Board of Directors meeting and found agenda items he considered “palpably inadequate,” according to OML requirements. Lenkowsky said he advised the CVB Board to review the requirements and warned of future city action if additional inadequacies were found.

“The CVB is contractually committed to conform to the open meeting laws and it plainly appeared to be in need of improvement,” Lenkowsky said. “If no improvement occurs and there are continued problems, then at some stage that information would be communicated to City Council.”

Lenkowsky added that his goal, and that of the city, was to “secure compliance rather than immediately bring it up with the City Council.”

The CVB Board discussed and will continue to review the open meeting laws to better comply with the contract, interim President Dennis Schilling said.

“I wanted to give the members (of the Board) a little bit of information and let them read the open meeting law information and have an opportunity to review it first,” Schilling said. “With that being said, we should determine what additional information is needed for our following meetings.”

The item in question, according to a memorandum sent to City Community Services Director and CVB liaison Stan Usinowicz from Lenkowsky, was action taken in an executive session during the Sept. 16 meeting.

Lenkowsky said his office reviewed the agenda at the request of members of the CVB.

“There is no indication from the CVB’s agenda that notice was provided as required by law or that the discussion might be held in public should the individual request a public meeting on this subject,” the memo read, adding that the agenda did not conform to the minimum requirements of the Arizona Open Meeting Law, according to Lenkowsky.

Lenkowsky also states in the memo that he found the topic “old business/new business” did not meet agenda requirements either.

Schilling said he would review the minutes of the Sept. 16 session and confirm what was discussed at a later date, but added that it was “probably relative to former President/CEO (Char Beltran’s) job performance.”

“I think that was it but I’d have to go take a look for sure,” he said, adding that Beltran may have not been present at the meeting. “She may not have been there but I can’t say for sure.”

Beltran said to her recollection she was not in attendance and was not informed of the items being discussed in the executive session. She said the Lake Havasu CVB was “the first Board that didn’t invite me to the closed sessions.”

“I’ve been the president or CEO of several other chamber of commerce and CVBs, and this is the very first time in my career where a body went into closed session without the CEO,” she said.

Attorney General spokeswoman Anne Hilby said all private citizens involved or residents could file formal complaints in regards to the items concerning open meeting laws.

“If someone brought it to our attention, we would investigate the matter without charge but we cannot speculate on the items without proper investigation,” she said.

The CVB is also not necessarily required to conform to the laws outside of the contract with the city, she said.

“Generally speaking, obviously official public bodies and official commissions formed by an executive branch are required to conform to the state’s open meetings law,” Hilby said. “There are exceptions for some and we could also investigate the matter if someone were to request an investigation.”

Hilby said anyone interested in filing a complaint should “write up your description of your concerns and what you feel is the alleged violation and send those to our office in writing, e-mail-fax or mail.”

Hilby said residents can send complaints to info@azag.gov or by fax at 602 542 4085 or through mail to 1275 W. Washington St. Phoenix, AZ, 85007. An attention to the open meeting law enforcement team should also be included with also submittals.

You can contact the reporter at nbruttell@havasunews.com