Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Open Meetings topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
MSU Extension trains Livingston/Park County airport board on Montana open‑meetings rights and risks
Summary
MSU Extension contractor Trent Blestry gave the airport board a 30‑minute overview of Montana’s open‑meetings framework, focusing on the public’s right to know, right to participate and right to privacy and on six legal requirements for holding public meetings.
Trent Blestry, an MSU Extension contracted faculty member, briefed the City of Livingston and Park County Joint Airport Board on Montana open‑meetings law and common procedural pitfalls during the board’s regular meeting.
Blestry said the state’s constitutional and statutory framework gives citizens a broad right to participate in and inspect government decision‑making, telling the board: “Every time we've seen something overturned that the board had the authority to make the decision on, it was overturned in process.” He advised that most lawsuits against local boards center on notice, access and public participation rather than the substantive merits of a decision.
Why it matters: Blestry framed the overview as a risk‑management briefing for a locally important public asset. He said careful process protects both the public’s rights and board members from legal exposure, and recommended that the board consult its attorney when interpretations of notice or privacy are uncertain.
Key points from the presentation included: the Montana Constitution and the Montana Code Annotated (MCA) are the primary governing sources; the public has a wide right to “know” and to “participate”; and the board should always consider whether notice and documents provided to the public give a “reasonable opportunity” to review an impending decision. Blestry reiterated that courts often treat 48 hours as a reasonable minimum for agenda posting, but he advised the board to determine whether their bylaws or a county attorney’s opinion define that timing for their board.
Blestry read and discussed three constitutional rights the extension training highlights: the right to participate, the right to know and the right to privacy. He explained that those rights can conflict (for example, internal personnel matters versus the public’s interest in disclosure) and recommended consulting the attorney’s office when privacy and disclosure collide.
He also outlined the “big six” elements of a legally held public meeting: noticing, an agenda, a quorum, public comment, minutes and a formal hearing/decision process. Blestry advised boards avoid informal gatherings that include a quorum; he said even hearing or discussing a matter in an un‑noticed forum can trigger litigation risk.
Board members and attendees asked practical questions about agenda timing, emergency closures and delegation of authority; Blestry recommended documenting any delegated authority in a public meeting and keeping minutes and bylaws current. He offered to provide statutory language on emergency meeting notice requirements and other written references to attendees.
Ending: The board asked for the training materials and for the extension to provide a short packet of the statutes and the emergency‑meeting language. Blestry said he would send the documents to the airport email address and invited members to follow up with MSU Extension or the county attorney for legal clarifications.
