TOPEKA – (October 9, 2017) – Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt today announced a settlement with the Baldwin City Council to resolve a violation of the Kansas Open Meetings Act (KOMA). The settlement was finalized last week.
In June, the attorney general’s office received a complaint alleging that the Baldwin City Council had violated the KOMA. The allegation involved the council engaging in serial communications in violation of the KOMA. Upon investigation, the attorney general’s office determined that the council had violated KOMA by engaging in serial communications. In addition, the investigation revealed that the council had violated the KOMA by recessing into executive session without properly stating the justification for the executive session in the motion, as required by the KOMA.
At the conclusion of the investigation, the mayor and members of the council signed a consent order agreeing to each receive at least one hour of training on the provisions of the KOMA and not to engage in any future violations of the KOMA. One member of the council was not required to sign the consent order, because the violation occurred prior to his appointment to the council.
A copy of the Consent Order is available at http://ag.ks.gov/open-govt/enforcement-actions. Information about requirements of the Kansas Open Meetings Act and the Kansas Open Records Act can be found at http://ag.ks.gov/open-govt.