Opinion: Clovis schools, city of Portales can do better

Government officials are supposed to work for us. It’s frustrating when they put effort into keeping us out of their meetings.

Consider recent action taken by Clovis Municipal Schools and the Portales City Council.

Clovis’ school board has decided to fight back against a new state law requiring video webcasting of its public meetings. Oh, you can watch on your home computer as the law requires, but CMS has decided it needs to see you, too. Turn your camera off or step away from view and school officials will boot you out of their virtual meeting.

Portales’ City Council went to some effort to ensure nobody attended its Aug. 3 meeting in which it hired a new city manager. It was held on a Saturday morning and notifications normally provided taxpayers were not extended. They slithered around the state’s Open Meetings Act on technicalities.

Clovis schools at least provided an explanation for why it’s discouraging online meeting attendance.

“… (T)he Board must ensure that its proceedings are conducted in an orderly and efficient manner,” the most recent meeting agenda told us.

The board requires virtual attendees display both their first and last names and keep their cameras on throughout the meeting in order to “maintain a virtual environment that closely mirrors in-person meetings and to uphold the integrity and decorum of each session … These guidelines are also intended to discourage individuals from attending under a false identity.”

Those who attend school board meetings in person are supposed to sign in before the meeting, using their real name. Apparently, there is also an unwritten rule prohibiting wigs and fake beards that might hide a taxpayer’s true identity.

Why exactly do school board members need to know who’s attending the public meetings? Will they behave differently if someone from the state’s Education Department shows up? Will they be more likely to act in the district’s best interest if media or sue-happy lawyers are in attendance?

Or is the board just sending a message to the riffraff among us regarding who’s really in charge around here?

As for Portales City Council, it didn’t bother trying to control the taxpayers who wanted to know what they were up to when they hired City Manager Chris Moyer. They just met in secret.

Well, not technically in secret. That would have been illegal. They said they did post the agenda for the “special meeting” outside City Hall. Sure, regular Council meetings are announced via email to anyone who asks, but “special” meetings “have not historically” been announced that way, a city official said.

Oh, and they posted the Aug. 3 meeting on the city website under the “Agenda and Minutes” section -- only it was placed under the July meeting agendas, under the June 25 meeting agenda, but above the June 11 meeting agenda. Where else would they put it? Maybe in chronological order?

The Portales Council did record that meeting and it can be found on the city’s YouTube page, but it all feels a little sleazy.

Again, neither Portales City Council nor Clovis Municipal Schools have broken any laws that we know about. But they need to make their taxpayer bosses feel a little more welcome.

— David Stevens

Editor