{"id":1794,"date":"2007-05-31T11:06:00","date_gmt":"2007-05-31T17:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/05\/city-wants-transparency-to-keep-up-with-technology\/"},"modified":"2007-05-31T11:06:00","modified_gmt":"2007-05-31T17:06:00","slug":"city-wants-transparency-to-keep-up-with-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/05\/city-wants-transparency-to-keep-up-with-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"City wants transparency to keep up with technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The City of Las Cruces<\/a>, in an effort to ensure its transparency keeps up with technology, is exploring whether councilors should be allowed to use cell phones, laptop computers and other communication devices during council meetings. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Coming from a council whose illegal action led several years ago to the formal definition in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> of a \u201crolling quorum,\u201d it\u2019s a valiant effort to tackle an interesting and difficult issue.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In 2002, then-Mayor Ruben Smith met with five of six councilors separately and convinced them to sign a letter asking the city ethics board to investigate possible violations by then-Councilor Bill Mattiace<\/a>. The letter led to an eventual reprimand.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Las Cruces-Sun-News<\/a> sued, arguing that the mayor and a majority of councilors, though they didn\u2019t physically meet in one place, made a decision, as a group, outside the legal forum of a public meeting. A district judge agreed, and \u201crolling quorums\u201d became illegal.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Mattiace, who has made open government his focus, later became mayor. It was Mattiace who, at Tuesday\u2019s meeting of the council, expressed concern about whether councilors communicating with constituents or others by using electronic devices during meetings violated the New Mexico Open Meetings Act<\/a>, or at least the spirit of openness.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But it isn\u2019t just Mattiace who is pushing the city to address the issue. According to an article in today\u2019s Sun-News<\/a>, all councilors, the city attorney and manager say the issue is worth exploring.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Mattiace raised the question because at least one councilor communicated with a constituent via e-mail while the council discussed The Vistas at Presidio on May 21.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything that is said and done by this council should be open record,\u201d Mattiace said, according to the Sun-News. \u201cThe decision made here should made by council members who have done their research, their homework and not because they\u2019ve been coached from the outside. When you go out on a stage like this, they shouldn\u2019t be lip synching.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The move by Mattiace has a political dimension, of course. It\u2019s Councilor Ken Miyagishima<\/a>, who may run against Mattiace this year, who is accused of communicating by text message and e-mail during the meeting. Miyagishima, who says he received only one message \u2013 it was from his wife \u2013 was the lone opponent of the massive development.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

He also sent an e-mail to one constituent during the meeting. And he used his computer during the meeting to research some housing issues that were being discussed.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Not illegal, but still a gray area<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The attorney general\u2019s office told the Sun-News the e-mail wasn\u2019t likely a violation of state law because the act doesn\u2019t address such forms of communication during meetings. But Bob Johnson, director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government<\/a>, said it should.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything that happens in a public meeting, where issues of concern to the public are discussed, are supposed to be audible,\u201d Johnson told the Sun-News. \u201cAt best, an action like that from an elected official is unethical. At worst, it\u2019s a violation of the Open Meetings Act.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

He raises a valid point. During public meetings, should councilors be able to discuss issues with constituents or others with an interest in their deliberations without the public knowing about it?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Councilors are joined by members of the Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education<\/a>, New Mexico State University Board of Regents<\/a> and Do\u00f1a Ana County Board of Commissioners<\/a> in using laptops during meetings. I\u2019d be lying if I said I had never communicated with an elected official using e-mail while he or she was participating in a meeting.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

At the same time, computers have become a critical tool for receiving information. It was great that Miyagishima was able to find housing information he sought during the meeting.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

You can\u2019t really take computers out of the picture. They\u2019re a part of daily life. So the question, then, is how to change open meetings law to account for computers and other communication devices?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It\u2019s an issue no other governmental agency in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> has raised, the attorney general\u2019s office told the Sun-News, but it\u2019s an interesting one. Government often does a bad job of keeping policies relevant in light of the newest technology. The city council has an opportunity to get ahead of this issue and ensure that government remains transparent.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure what the right answer is, but I\u2019m glad city officials are discussing it.<\/p>\n

\n

A prior version of this article incorrectly stated that the council met Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The City of Las Cruces, in an effort to ensure its transparency keeps up with technology, is exploring whether councilors should be allowed to use cell phones, laptop computers and other communication devices during council meetings. Coming from a council whose illegal action led several years ago to the formal definition in New Mexico of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}