Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Executive Session Media Access topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Crook County commissioners debate whether media may be excluded from executive sessions
Summary
At a July 28 special meeting, advisers and commissioners discussed whether Oregon law allows the news media to be barred from portions of executive sessions; an agency official told the board that media exclusion for ORS 192.660(2)(f) is not permitted while exclusion for 2(h) may be allowed in narrow circumstances.
At a special Crook County Board of Commissioners session on July 28, an agency official told commissioners that members of the news media generally cannot be excluded from executive sessions held under ORS 192.660(2)(f).
“You cannot exclude media for any reason from a 2 f session,” the agency official (speaker 6) said during a statutory-interpretation exchange. The adviser cited a written opinion and an administrative rule number while explaining the distinction between subsections 2(f) and 2(h) of ORS 192.660.
The chair (speaker 1) had opened the meeting by reading the board’s executive-session notice and the statutory language that the board planned to consult with counsel and consider records exempt from public inspection. The chair repeated several times that no decision may be made in executive session and asked the public to leave the room while designating that members of the news media were allowed access only as provided by law.
Commissioners and counsel then focused on whether a specific individual named in the discussion, Justin Alderman, who was described in the meeting as a plaintiff in related litigation, should be excluded from the session. Members agreed the portion of the meeting characterized as ORS 192.660(2)(h) — consultation with counsel regarding litigation in which a party is present — could justify excluding a media member who is a party to the litigation, while the 2(f) records provision does not by itself permit media exclusion.
The board left the room to move into executive session and later returned to open session. The agency official advised the board to use ORS guidance and administrative rules as a reference in future meetings when combining statutory bases for executive sessions.
The record shows deliberations about statutory scope and media access but does not include a formal vote on any change to policy; the meeting proceeded to other agenda items and to a separate motion about litigation representation.
