Having a government door slammed in my face

Some parents out there might be familiar with the sting of having a door slammed in your face by an angry child who refuses to talk to you.

I remember being there once, running to my room after a fight with my dad and closing and locking the door behind me, just in time to avoid my mother’s inquiring mind.

But, inquiring minds persist, and eventually I told her everything and felt better about being open and honest. And she was informed, able to help me cope with problems and move forward.

For a moment, let’s use that scenario as an analogy for closed door meetings held by local governmental bodies.

On Wednesday morning, the Morrison County Board of Commissioners held a “planning session.” Normally, I attend these sessions and come away with several story ideas to follow up on. Sometimes it provides background information, sometimes it’s a prelude to a more heated debate at the actual board meeting and sometimes, in fact more-often-than-not, the planning session is where the real action takes place. It’s where the issues are fully fleshed out, facts are discussed and opinions are formed.

But not this week.

Wednesday’s planning session was, according to County Administrator Deb Gruber, a closed door meeting to evaluate her performance through the first five months in appointed office.

But when a reliable source told me that the meeting was, in fact, going to be held to discuss the “expectations” for the county administrator position, I asked a simple question – why is that a closed meeting?

Shouldn’t the public know what their elected officials are asking of a newly appointed administrator, a position and form of government that not all agree with (as evidenced by a recent public hearing in which county residents objected to the extra layer of government the administrator represents)? I mean, $60,000 in taxpayer money is going towards that position, so if it’s going to be discussed beyond a job description sheet, the taxpayers deserve to be involved in that discussion. Moreover, why is the county discussing its expectations of Gruber five months after hiring her?

Chairman Tom Wenzel said Wednesday’s meeting was not a performance evaluation, and flat out stated that it was a discussion on what the commissioners expected Gruber to do as administrator and how they expected her to do it. He said her actual performance evaluation is a month from now on her sixth-month anniversary. So if this was a “performance evaluation,” why hold one now and another a month from now. Isn’t that a waste of time and per diem dollars?

You want a performance evaluation, I’ll give you one.

In five months in office, the county administrator has been leading the county’s reorganizational efforts. In doing so, she has helped commissioners renew attempts to make her now vacated treasurer’s position appointable (something not all taxpayers approve of), she has ruffled feathers by proposing to shift duties of the elected auditor to other offices (something Auditor Russ Nygren didn’t like, which is why he has sought out legal counsel) and now she refused to allow the public access to her so-called performance evaluation. (The law says that even though evaluations of appointed officials can be conducted behind closed doors, the official being evaluated can opt for open doors and more transparency.)

OK, evaluation done. Now let’s open the doors and talk about expectations moving forward.

In no way am I suggesting that there is corruption going on behind closed doors. I’m simply pointing out that such concerns are bound to come up when you do, in fact, close doors.

Don’t the commissioners want an informed public? Don’t taxpayers deserve to know how county resources are being used?

That’s what this is all about. Deb Gruber represents taxpayer money and county resources. So when the commissioners sit down to discuss how they want her to do her job, shouldn’t the public be in on that discussion?

My mom wanted inside my room so she could be involved in my life. I wanted inside the County Board Room so the public could be involved in its local government’s life.

Is that too much to ask?

Matt Perkins is a Record reporter, and can be reached by e-mailing matt.perkins@mcrecord.com.

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