[env-trinity] Trinity Journal: Trinity Management Council mulls closed sessions

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.trinityjournal.com/news/local/article_26c408f0-3591-11e5-98a2-e7750a17e80d.html
Trinity Management Council mulls closed sessions
By AMY GITTELSOHN The Trinity Journal | Posted: Wednesday, July 29, 2015 6:15 amThe Trinity Management Council that manages Trinity River Restoration Program activities may start holding some of its meetings in closed session, much to the dismay of the Trinity County supervisor serving on that council.Sup. Keith Groves, the county’s representative on the TMC, confirmed that there are changes to the TMC’s bylaws in the works that have him concerned.“We have a couple members on the Trinity Management Council that want to meet in closed session to be able to work without the public’s oversight,” Groves said.Currently, the TMC’s bylaws don’t allow for closed meetings.Under the Trinity River Record of Decision, the Secretary of the Interior retains ultimate authority over the restoration program. The TMC meets quarterly on matters such as flow recommendations, the program budget, fisheries status reports and reviews of program accomplishments. The TMC may also have special meetings.The TMC’s meetings have been held at various locations, including Redding, Eureka, Weitchpec, Hoopa and Weaverville.Sup. Groves added that he’s the only TMC member having “serious heartburns” over the prospect of meetings closed to the public. Other TMC members include representatives from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Hoopa Valley Tribe, Yurok Tribe, California Resources Agency, National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Forest Service.Groves and the Trinity Adaptive Management Working Group (TAMWG) of stakeholders that advises the TMC have both recommended if the TMC does hold closed sessions that it follow the Brown Act, although as a federal organization it doesn’t have to. The Brown Act applies to local legislative bodies in California, and restricts closed session meetings to topics such as specific personnel and legal matters.“The proposal at this point is that there could be no voting allowed in a closed session,” Groves said, “but suggestions we limit what we talk about have met resistance.”“It’s very vague what they want to talk about,” Groves said.The chair of the TAMWG stakeholder group and non-voting member of the TMC, Elizabeth Hadley from the Redding Electric Utility, noted that neither she nor the executive director of the river restoration program could attend the closed sessions as proposed.Indications are the TMC members wanting to make the change want to do it for discussion of personnel matters, she said, but “we want to make sure they wouldn’t be used for normal business discussions we believe should be open to the public.”At the last TMC meeting Hadley said she expressed her concerns, and various members did see the need to better define what the closed sessions would be used for.“I did still express our concerns that the public would be excluded and I would also be excluded,” she added.However, Groves said he doesn’t know why the closed sessions would be sought for personnel reasons when the TMC does not do the hiring and firing for the restoration program. “It’s up to the (Bureau of Reclamation) who they have there,” he said.Groves said he believes the TMC chair, fisheries biologist Seth Naman from the National Marine Fisheries Service, is trying to negotiate a compromise that works for everyone.Naman said he understands the concerns.But he added that there have been a few times in the past when the TMC has met without inviting the public, and “I didn’t want the TMC to do that again without it being in the bylaws.”It’s not uncommon for groups of federal managers to hold closed sessions, Naman said, and “myself as well as other TMC members simply want that flexibility.”While the members might not want to bind themselves to the Brown Act when it isn’t required, Naman said the first proposal presented calls for the TMC to announce when it intends to hold a closed session and the topic to be discussed.The TMC might consider the proposed changes to the bylaws at its Sept. 17 meeting, scheduled to be held at the Trinity County Library in Weaverville.
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