The Indiana Publisher

The following questions were submitted by the Spencer County Leader (Rockport), The Republic (Columbus); LaGrange News and LaGrange Standard: I have one of those interesting legal/news- paper questions. Every year we send a Sunshine letter to the various town- ship advisory boards within Spencer County. One of these, Luce Township, never lets us know when they plan to meet. The township board is responsible for making appointments to the Luce Township Regional Sewer Board, which has been con- tentious since its inception about 10 years ago. The advi- sory board just reappointed two members, one who pre- viously sued the district and another who the district is currently suing. What I'm wondering is, since they do not handle the notifi- cation correctly, is there any recourse as to their actions? If I'm reading this correctly, I think you are asking whether it's possible that someone could ask the court to declare the appointments null and void due to the failure to give proper notice of the meet- ings because Luce Township failed to give the newspa- per notice of its meetings as required under the Open Door Law. The answer would hinge on the timing of the appointments. The Open Door Law sets out the remedies for violations at I.C. 5-14-1.5-7. One can ask for an action to be declared null and void for failure to give proper notice. See I.C. 5-14- 1.5-7(A)(3)(B). A catch though is the lawsuit needs to be filed within 30 days of when the violation occurred in this case or when a person should have known of the violation. So if someone wants to void the two appointments, they would have to act within 30 days of the meeting where the appointments occurred. Also keep in mind, that even if the judge declares the two appointments null and void, this would not prevent the Luce Township advisory board from making the same two appointments, although in a legally noticed meeting. What the plaintiff would have to hope is the added time would allow interested par- ties to hopefully influence the advisory board to make dif- ferent appointments. I'm working on a story about the Columbus city council members plan to meet individually with a city offi- cial to receive information about a plan to pay for the city and coun- ty's new opioid addiction preven- tion program. I know it isn't a violation of the law for a council- man to meet with a city appointed official to receive information, but this effort doesn't seem right considering the Open Door Law. What do you think? First, if they are not care- ful, they could violate the Open a Door Law by creat- ing a serial meeting depending upon how the meetings between city council members and the offi- cials are structured. Second, I think there is an argument that this plan violates the spirit of the Open Door Law. Yes, the legislature intended to allow for individual conversations between elected officials and gov- ernment officials so an individual councilman may obtain informa- tion on a particular proposal or help a constituent, but an orga- nized effort to present a proposal to an entire council or board in a fashion to skirt the Open Door Law robs citizens of the opportu- nity to see what concerns or ques- tions were raised by their elected council and whether the concerns were adequately answered. In this process, the questions and answers will be lost to the public. All that's left is an up-or- down vote with little discussion. It raises the question as to who or what is being protected by this secret process - the proposal, whose flaws may be concealed, or council members whose questions might reveal a political philoso- phy on a potentially controversial subject? The LaGrange County Board of Commissioners recently passed a resolution outlining the health fees for 2018. Do you think there needs to be publication of this resolution? I would argue publication is not required. The statute requires publication when the ordinance includes a penalty or forfeiture of property for a vio- lation. This resolution appears to be fees for permits, services, etc., not a list of penalties for violations of a county ordinance. Send your questions to Steve Key, HSPA executive director and general counsel, skey@hspa.com or call (317) 624-4427. December 2017 Page 3 HSPA Legal Hotline Email: info@newspaperconsultants.com | Phone: 910-323-0349 | www.newspaperconsultants.com Boost your annual advertising revenue with a new or existing TV magazine! ANC currently serves over 25 daily newspapers in Indiana and would love to partner with YOUR newspaper! Contact us at 910-323-0349 for more informa�on on this money-making sales program! Email: info@newspaperconsultants.com | Phone: 910-323-0349 | www.newspaperconsultants.com Meetings might be ruled null, void for failure to give proper advance notice Publication of health fee resolution not required by law Secret city council meetings violate spirit of Open Door Law Q A Q A Q A Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust $1,000 Environmental Journalism Award The Nina Mason Pulliam Environmental Journalism Award was created through a grant by the Pulliam Trust to the Hoosier State Press Association Foundation to recognize Indiana journalists for outstanding reporting on environmental issues. Beginning in 2018, the annual award will be a part of the HSPA Better Newspaper Contest. It will be presented at the Newsroom Seminar where Indiana newspaper journalists are honored each year. Hoosier State Press Association Foundation Call Continued from Page 1 "If I can take an idea that Laurie Ragle's done in Bloomington, twist it enough, make it my own and have success here, it's good for me but the other thing is, honestly, it's good for our industry," Van Baalen said. "Our industry needs more creativity and more ideas being shared." On the October call, Erin Powell, advertising director for the Tribune- Star (Terre Haute) discussed an initia- tive she launched at her paper that was inspired by a project at the Kokomo Tribune, "Women in Business" pro- files that were published in their com- munity magazine, Terre Haute Living. The project involved selling the profiles, a recognition breakfast and talk by a woman business leader. "For the breakfast we had 150 at- tendees and generated $23,000 in pro- files alone and another $500 in addi- tional ticket sales." Powell said. "The local hospital sponsored the event so all expenses were covered. This was our largest edition of our magazine to date, and looked great. We printed 1,000 extra copies and were sold out within a week of publication." The revenue calls last 45-60 min- utes and are geared toward participants taking away tangible information they can adapt to their organizations. "That's what we're trying to ac- complish, that everybody on the call can walk away with an idea that they can implement that can get them mon- ey in their pockets," Van Baalen said 2018 Revenue Sharing Calls are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. EDT on Feb. 8, May 3, Aug., 2 and Oct. 4. Call 857-232-0158 and enter code #599522.

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