Far West councilors briefed on updated Open Public Meetings rules and expanded ethics disclosures

A pre-meeting training for Far West elected officials on Jan. 16 reviewed recent changes to the Open Public Meetings Act and a major expansion of disclosures under the Municipal Officers and Employees Ethics Act.

The trainer told councilors the statutory definition of a "meeting" was narrowed so that a meeting now requires both a quorum and a convening act: "Now people can't claim when you guys show up to the 4th July event... that you're having a public meeting," the presenter said, explaining the change is meant to prevent incidental social gatherings from being treated as public meetings. The presenter also emphasized a new prohibition that bars a quorum of a public body from acting together outside a meeting "in a concerted and deliberate way to predetermine an action" on a matter that will appear on the public agenda, summarizing the rule as "No decisions in the parking lot."

The trainer reviewed procedural changes for electronic meetings: if every member attends remotely the public body may hold an electronic meeting without an in-person anchor location unless a written request for an anchor location is submitted at least 12 hours before the scheduled meeting time. The presenter said the 12‑hour request window is measured against the posted meeting time.

The session also covered expanded disclosure requirements for elected officials under the ethics law. The presenter said elected officials must now disclose current employers, certain prior-year employment if newly retired, investments (with third-party managed funds generally excluded) and some employment information for non-related adult household members. "They want your employer, employment history, investments, financial information," the presenter said, noting that the completed forms will be posted on the city website. The trainer clarified that pensions and Social Security do not need to be reported as employment income and that the threshold for listing income sources is targeted to regular job income rather than retirement payments.

Staff said the new disclosure forms are due Jan. 31; the presenter said a $100 fine applies to late filings and that the forms will be publicly available to increase transparency. Councilors asked procedural questions about how elected members who already filed similar forms at other jurisdictions could link to those filings rather than duplicate them; staff said a link to an existing filing is acceptable when the other record satisfies the new requirements.

No formal action was required at the training. City staff provided hard copies and electronic templates of the updated forms and offered to assist councilors while they complete the new disclosures.