CMC meeting will happen tonight, despite cancellation

A meeting called by three of four hospital district commissioners, cancelled by the commission president on Friday, will take place anyway, a commissioner said.

President Greg Behrens cancelled the meeting on the advice of the district’s attorney, who said calling the meeting, while not already in a meeting, violated the state’s Open Public Meetings Act, which forbids a majority of such a governing body to convene without proper notice to all its members and to the news media.

Kennedy disagrees, and said at that at least two members of the board would show up at the 7 p.m. meeting Monday night anyway.

Kennedy and commissioners Geary Oliver and Kris Hare called the special meeting Nov. 13, for a full agenda, including a discussion on whether to seek a second legal opinion on whether it is legal to offer steep discounts for lab tests during hospital week in May. Coulee Medical Center dropped the popular offering last spring on advice of the attorney.

The same counsel whose advice they would be checking advised Behrens of the alleged public meeting law violation.

Regarding special meetings, the statute states: “A special meeting may be called at any time by the presiding officer of the governing body of a public agency or by a majority of the members of the governing body by delivering written notice personally, by mail, by fax, or by electronic mail to each member of the governing body.”