Dear Common Council:

In my hand is the notice and agenda of Annual Gathering of Jefferson Development Corporation on June 22, from 6 p.m. until 7:30. This is the JDC's annual report to the City Council and the City Water and Electric Commission. I must warn you that if you attend this meeting, you could be in violation of Wisconsin's open meetings law. Each of you could be fined not less than $25 and not more than $300 for attending.

As explained here in the State Attorney General's guide to open meeting law compliance, if more than half the Council is present, the gathering is presumed to be a "meeting," and that the burden of proof is on the Council to prove that they didn't discuss or act on any business. Reviewing the function of the JDC is governmental business.

The bottom of this Agenda says "Please RSVP to the JDC office by Tuesday June 15." I RSVP's in person with Mr. Olsen. However, I was told I could not attend the entire meeting, but only the 30 minutes scheduled for the meeting from 7 to 7:30, because the JDC is paying for the dinner. Mind you, the JDC is paying for this with city tax dollars. They've got $45,000 of city money in the bank now, by saving the money the Council has given them year after year in small allotments.

The Agenda for this meeting states "if you have specific items or issues which need to be discussed" to contact the JDC. I wrote a letter to them in early June explaining that I'd like to be able to address this meeting regarding my yet-unanswered request for membership in the JDC, and to explain my request to the District Attorney to open the JDC meetings to comply with State law. However, there is no public participation section scheduled for this meeting.

In fact, there is only 30 minutes scheduled for this meeting - from 7 to 7:30. The meeting starts at six for social time, with dinner at 6:30.

I find it hard to believe that the JDC's obligation to the inform the public and City Council of its actions in the past year can be met in the 30 minutes. This thirty minutes allots time to the Mayor for a welcome and introduction, a slot for JDC president Gaylin Morgan to explain the history and mission of the JDC, and finally a slot for Dave Olsen to give the annual review of what the JDC's done in the past year.

I urge you to avoid spending taxpayer's dollars (as supplied to the JDC for purposes of economic development) to pay for dinner at a private country club.

What can the Council do? First, I think the Council should plan this agenda, not the JDC. Next, hold this meeting in a public place, skip the dinner, wholeheartedly invite the press and the public, and add a slot to the agenda to allow me to speak as well as anyone else to ask questions of the JDC before the Council quorum. This is a great opportunity for the JDC to explain to the public what it does. Jefferson needs more openness and more involved and well-informed citizens.

On June 4, Dave Olsen sat with me for quite some time, asking my assistance to draft a new agenda for this meeting that met all my concerns. He told me he wanted to do the right thing, to move the meeting to City Hall, add a public participation section, invite the public and press, and expand the explanation of what the JDC does in order to better inform the public. However, today he told me that nothing's been done to change this agenda. He did not bring this issue before the JDC at its meeting this morning. However, he told me he'd talked with several JDC board members - but he wouldn't identify who - who decided that the agenda wouldn't change.