Julie Good convened a special city council meeting last night (August 14th) to discuss the New Meadows fire commissioners proposed ambulance district. At the outset of the meeting, she told the packed audience that the meeting was subject to Open Idaho (Idaho’s Open Meeting Law), but there would be no public comment allowed during the meeting. This meeting followed closely on the heals of an article in the August 6” edition of the Record Reporter which reported several negative comments of the Mayor to the Adams County Commissioners about the Meadows Valley fire and ambulance department.
I live just outside the city limits of New Meadows. I went to last night’s meeting to speak out against the Mayor’s negative comments to the County commissioners. I think the world of our fire chief Doug Buys, Johnny Brown, Luke Nicholson and everyone else at the department who put their lives on the line 24/7, most of whom are volunteers. No one is better or more dedicated than this group at what they do their collective espirit de corps is unmatched. At the conclusion of last night’s meeting, I stood up and asked the Mayor if she had the authority to allow public comment. She said yes. So why didn’t she? Bottomline, it’s not right for the Mayor to make negative comments to County commissioners about our fire, EMS, and fire commissioners - knowing there’s a reporter at the meeting - and then use Open Idaho at the very next council meeting to block rebuttal of her negative comments reported in this paper.
