(Radio Iowa) – New members of city councils and other public boards in Iowa face a new deadline to complete training on Iowa’s Open Meeting and Open Records law — and the Iowa Public Information Board says Iowa State University Extension Service training sessions fulfill that requirement. Sara Shonrock of I-S-U Extension says the deadline was created by a state law that took effect July 1st.
“Anyone part of a governmental body that is newly elected or appointed needs to take these trainings within 90 days of taking the oath of office or taking on the responsibilities of the office,” Shonrock says. I-S-U Extension has been offering these sessions for the past two decades — and Shonrock says they answer some basic questions about Iowa’s so-called “Sunshine Law.”
“What do they need to hold onto as far as records? What is the basis for how the public can ask for records? How are meetings held and how are closed sessions held?” she says. Shonrock says because of the new law, the number of these training sessions has increased significantly. “The training that I do with city clerks every year was a good starting point for having this happen,” Shonrock says. “…I’m glad that people are getting the message that they need to get out and get this training done.”
Shonrock says the new requirement affects up to 14-thousand people who are elected or appointed leaders of boards, commissions, and other units of government in the state. The Open Records section of the law applies to far more people who are employed by in state government as well as by cities, counties, school districts, and other forms of government. The push to require this training came after the collapse of a Davenport apartment building that killed three residents nearly two and a half years ago.
Representative Gary Mohr of Bettendorf says the city was reluctant to provide relevant information about events that led up to the collapse, and the Scott County Attorney tried to keep a state report on the collapse secret after she announced the building’s owner would not face criminal charges.
