We prefer the public to be served publicly

In the past few weeks, The Advocate staff has had an interesting learning experience that has emphasized an important function that journalists provide. We would like to share this experience with our readers.

On Sunday, Oct. 21, the MHCC District board held a closed-door executive session at 9 a.m., followed by an open public meeting where it appointed Paul Capell to fill the board seat vacated by Ralph Yates, until the public board election comes next spring.

During the executive session, the details of which are usually not open to the public, the board discussed the qualifications of the five applicants vying for the board seat.

Though the open meeting held after the executive session did follow legal procedure, The Advocate believes the executive session beforehand is a violation of Oregon law.

The Oregon Revised Statutes, under ORS 192.660(2), contains the outlines for holding an executive session. In that chapter, rules state under 7(a) that an executive session cannot be held to discuss the filling of a vacancy for an elective office. A board position, being a publicly elected position, meets this description.

Upon realizing this potential violation, Advocate editors met with members of the board to discuss concerns we had of the legality of the meeting. Both sides came to the agreement that the b o a rd should not have held the exectutive session to discuss the board applicants, and the minutes from the meeting have since been released.

After speaking with board members, we feel confident that these potential violations were not intentional. However, we would like to use this time to point out it’s situations like this where an important purpose of journalism becomes clear.

Aside from giving public service to our readers by providing important news and other information essential to students and other readers, one of the main roles of a journalistic organization is to serve as a “watchdog” surveying those in positions of authority.

By keeping that watchful eye, and reporting back to the public, journalists help keep government leaders and other public officials in check and make sure they don’t step outside legal boundaries (intentional or not). Journalists help compile information on the actions of the government and report back to the public.

In this particular case, The Advocate also would like to share our appreciation to MHCC District board members for their cooperation in helping clear up our concerns about legal process and their willingness to provide more transparency in their public roles.