IFOIC UPDATE

Minutes of the annual meeting of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council

Friday, Sept. 22, 2006
The Central Library of Des Moines,
1000 Grand Ave., Des Moines, Iowa
11 a.m.

Presiding: President Joe Buttweiler, Mason City Globe-Gazette, representing the Iowa Newspaper Association
Attending: Tom Beell, Iowa State University; Ferne Bonomi, Bonomi & Co.; Mark Bowden, Cedar Rapids Gazette; Brian Cooper, Dubuque Telegraph Herald; Angela Dalton, State of Iowa Citizens’ Aide/Ombudsman; Wayne Davis, ISU retired; Mary Gannon, Iowa Association of School Boards; Geoff Greenwood, KCCI-TV;  John Harvey, Vocal of Iowa; Judie Hoffman, League of Women Voters of Iowa; Carol Hunter, Des Moines Register; Jennifer Jacobs, Des Moines Register; Clark Kauffman, Des Moines Register; Rox Laird, Des Moines Register; Keith Luchtel, Nyemaster Law Firm; Bill Monroe, INA; Herb Quirmbach, state senator; Carol Riha, Associated Press; Marty Ryan, American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa;  Jim Saunders, Iowa Department of Public Safety; Jack Shelley, ISU retired; Kevin Techau, IDPS; Dave Vickers, KROS Radio, Iowa Broadcasters Association; Carolyn Washburn, Des Moines Register; Dave Witke, Des Moines Register; Cal Woods, Fox 17
Recording secretary: Kathleen Richardson, executive secretary, Drake University

Minutes: The minutes of the annual meeting of 2005 and the executive committee meetings of 2006 were unanimously approved.

Summary of activities of 2006 and report on continuing projects: Richardson reported that the following projects had been undertaken in the past year —

• Richardson and a Drake journalism student have written an election season “white paper” to help journalists and other citizens gauge candidates’ views on open government issues. The paper is being distributed through the INA, the IBA, the AP and other members, and is posted on the IFOIC Web site (www.ifoic.org).
• Richardson and another Drake journalism student are almost done with updating the Expanded Media Coverage handbook to reflect changes that the Iowa Supreme Court has made to the rules governing electronic coverage of Iowa courts.
• The Iowa Code is being updated this year, so the Council will update and publish a new edition of its Open Meetings, Open Records Handbook early next year.
• Members of the Council have been involved in many speaking engagements and training activities on open meetings and records issues. Members collaborated with the Iowa State Association of Counties to provide training at its fall convention last year, and those materials have provided the basis for training workshops for other government officials throughout this year.
• The Council has also been involved in several legal actions this year: as amicus in a case challenging release of information about applicants for medical licenses; as intervenor in a case challenging release of information about physician disciplinary proceedings; and as plaintiff in an open-meetings violation lawsuit, recently settled.

Budget report 2006:  Richardson went over the operating budget so far for 2006, and discussed the proposed budget for 2007. (The 2006 budget report will be finalized at the next meeting of the IFOIC executive committee and a 2007 budget will be voted upon then.) The main expenditure foreseen before the end of this year will be the publication of the EMC booklet, and the main expense in the next year will be the 12th edition of the open meetings/records handbook. Laird asked why the dues paid this year didn’t match those budgeted, and Richardson said that several organizations had not paid their dues, including sustaining member Mediacom. Brian Cooper volunteered to contact the company to explore getting it up-to-date on its dues.  Riha moved to accept the budget report and Monroe seconded. The report was unanimously accepted.

Goals for 2007: The Council agreed on the following goals for 2007 —

• To approach the Iowa Supreme Court to talk about establishing a place in the new judicial building where media can conduct interviews.

• To continue as the Iowa Supreme Court-designated coordinator for the Expanded Media Coverage program.
• To work with the League of Women Voters on legislation to require that campaign finance reports be filed electronically at least five days before the election.
• To undertake other projects and activities as necessary.

Nomination of officers: The following slate of officers for 2007 were approved —

• Dave Vickers, KROS, Clinton, as president, representing the Iowa Broadcasters Association
• Carol Hunter, The Des Moines Register, as first vice president
• Steve Delaney, Burlington Hawk Eye, representing the Iowa Newspaper Association, as second vice president
• Mike Rolands, Indianola Record-Herald, Working Press Trustee
• Carol Riha, Associated Press, Working Press Trustee

New business:

• Greenwood suggested that the FOI Council post online documents of IFOIC legal cases and other cases in PDF format, and also include links to other parts of the Iowa Code outside of Chapters 21 and 22 that relate to public meetings and records.
• Beell expressed concern that the Council may become irrelevant and complacent and that citizens, especially young people, aren’t knowledgeable enough about the importance of open government. Bonomi encouraged the Council to revisit the community-based public relations campaign that she formulated for the Council several years ago. She reiterated that Council members must become more proactive in their own communities about speaking out about the values of openness.
• Dalton said that the ombudsman’s office is seeing an increase in the number of substantiated complaints related to public meetings and records. She said that the office wishes it could do more, and intends to do more within the restrictions of its resources.

The Council thanked outgoing president Joe Buttweiler for his service.

The meeting adjourned at approximately 12:20 p.m.

Following the business meeting, guest speaker was Charles Davis of the National Freedom of Information Coalition.

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