Kim Norvell

knorvell@dmreg.com

The Iowa Public Information Board has received two complaints alleging the Des Moines City Council violated the state open meetings law last month when it met to discuss pending legislation.

It was during this meeting that City Council members voted to support a bill that would dismantle Des Moines Water Works and transfer the utility's assets to the city of Des Moines, according to a complaint filed Friday by Water Works Trustee Susan Huppert.

"I have been told by Mayor (Frank) Cownie and (Councilman) Skip Moore that a meeting took place and a vote was taken to support legislation to dissolve the DMWW," she wrote in the complaint.

That's not the case, according to City Manager Scott Sanders. There was a meeting Feb. 15 to update the council on legislative priorities, but there was no vote on the water utility bill, he said.

Sanders said he reviewed 25 bills with the council, including the water utility bill, which was introduced in the Iowa House the same day as the City Council meeting.

A one-line agenda posted before the meeting lists "2017 Legislative Issues" as the only topic. Minutes from the more-than-hourlong gathering total three sentences: "The attached bill lists with highlighted bills were reviewed and discussion ensued. The City Manager presented his positions on bills of interest. No Council Members spoke in opposition to the Manager's positions."

The lack of details on the agenda was a "deliberate attempt to not allow input from the public on this important issue for our community," Huppert wrote in her complaint.

"Had any information been available something this dramatic regarding DMWW would have been discussed, I would have attended," she wrote.

Councilman Chris Coleman said the city manager holds a meeting to discuss legislative issues with the council at least once during every Statehouse session. The city manager typically discusses the bills that affect the city and how its lobbyists will register — unless he hears opposition from the council, Coleman said.

"We put the (city) manager and (city) attorney in position of directing lobbyists, with input from us individually. In this case, this was a discussion, not a vote," Coleman said. "The manager takes the temperature, doesn't take a vote."

When asked whether council members were individually questioned about their support for the Water Works bill, City Attorney Jeff Lester said "absolutely not."

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Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, said the city's bare-bones agenda and limited minutes do not follow the spirit of Iowa's open meetings law.

The purpose of posting agendas is to provide enough information so stakeholders can decide whether they have an interest in attending or participating, he said. And "the minutes need to be a meaningful summary of what occurs. And simply to say these bills were discussed, to me is not a meaningful summation of what went on in that meeting."

"It may well be an innocent oversight on the part of city staff, but there certainly will be people out there who see a deliberate motive on the City Council’s part by not alerting anybody," Evans said.

Margaret Johnson, interim executive director of the Iowa Public Information Board, said having a bare-bones agenda on legislative issues is not rare. She uses the same approach when meeting with information board members about legislation, she said.

The city's lobbyists registered in support of the House water utility bill after the Feb. 15 meeting with city council members.

The legislation would strip Des Moines Water Works and other public water utilities of their independence, making them city departments subject to the control of their local city councils. It would transfer the utilities' assets to cities. Bills were approved this week by House and Senate Agriculture Committees and are now eligible for floor debate.

Opponents of the bill say farming interests are pushing the legislative effort in an attempt to kill Water Works' lawsuit challenging whether Iowa farmers should be responsible for fertilizer and other nutrients seeping from their fields.

Leslie Gearhart, chairwoman of the Des Moines Water Works Board of Trustees, said she was "stunned" when she learned Des Moines had signed on in support of the legislation.

"I feel completely betrayed," she said. "If you're going to say you're going against the Des Moines Water Works, that's a pretty damn big decision. That should be a formal vote."

Johnson, of the Iowa Public Information Board, said she has reached out to Des Moines for more information about the Feb. 15 meeting following the complaints.