Johnson County Community College
Press Release

College Information and Publications
913-469-8500
Julie Haas, Associate Vice President, Marketing Communications, ext. 3120
Peggy Graham, Writer, ext. 3425
Tyler Cundith, Sports Information Director, ext. 3122

7/16/09
Story by Julie Haas

DA finds JCCC trustees did not violate Kansas Open Meetings Act

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – The board of trustees of Johnson County Community College did not violate the Kansas Open Meetings Act earlier in the year, according to the Johnson County district attorney’s office.

The district attorney issued a ruling yesterday, stating “The Johnson County District Attorney’s office finds that no violations of the Kansas Open Meetings Act occurred in the above cited incidents and therefore the matter is considered closed.”

“The JCCC trustees take the Kansas Open Meetings Act very seriously,” said Lynn Mitchelson, JCCC trustee. “We appreciate that the district attorney’s office recognized that we did not and would not violate the law. We are happy to put this matter behind us and to have it publicly recognized that we did not violate KOMA.”

Former trustee Ben Hodge had asked the DA’s office to look into the question of whether the trustees had violated the act earlier in the year. Hodge had written a letter to The Kansas City Star, and four trustees responded with a letter of their own to counter misstatements in Hodge’s original document. Hodge alleged that the group letter violated the act.

According to the district attorney’s ruling, “While the letter involves a majority of the membership of the Johnson County Community College Board of Trustees, it did not appear to be intended to reach agreement on a matter that would require binding action to be taken by the body or agency. Giving thorough consideration to the needs of students and taxpayers in addressing the undecided issue of raising the mill levy does not require binding action.”
           
Hodge also alleged that the presentation of a list of possible budget cuts by Terry Calaway, the college president, given in response to Hodge’s request during Calaway’s semi-annual performance review in executive session, violated the act.

According to the district attorney’s ruling, “Dr. Calaway said he did not receive Trustee Hodge’s written evaluation [which included the request] until the morning of February 19, 2009 [the day of the review]. As a result, he had virtually no time to prepare any kind of response. He decided to provide the list for this purpose. This fits within the purview of ‘personnel matters of nonelected personnel,’ which is a topic that may be discussed in a closed meeting under K.S.A. 2008 Supp. 75-4319 (b) (1).  . . Again, there was no violation of KOMA.”

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