If You Ask Me / By Martha Knight

To be fair, I don’t think they did it on purpose, But some of your elected officials just acted to limit press coverage of their meetings, where they make lots of decisions that affect you, the community, your taxes, the quality of life here, and education and events and facilities.

It can be tricky, scheduling meetings. Everyone is busy. Most of us, other than those who work for the governmental agency involved, have other jobs, and they too have family responsibilities and non-job things they are involved with. Find the best night for everyone? Impossible.

Those who run for office are going to have to reprioritize some of their interests.

This newspaper used to cover county government, especially the meetings of the primary government, the Board of County Commissioners; and the meetings of the school board and two and sometimes three of the municipalities that lie within the school district: Port Allegany Borough Council, Liberty Township and Annin Township supervisors.

For years there were three of us doing that coverage: Chuck Boller , for the “Reporter Argus.,” someone for the “Bradford Era,” and  someone for the “Olean Times Herald.”

When Chuck stopped doing news for the Argus, someone else occupied that spot at the press tables. Then two of us did the local coverage, one for each daily, but we also supplied stories to the local paper.

There were three wise monkeys, then two, then, for some time now, just this one.

The Era and the TH are rivals no longer, but two publications of the same company. I work for that company and the one that publishes the RA. I had to stop covering Annin Township meetings because it meets on first Mondays, and so does the borough council.. I can’t be in both places.

I hated to see coverage of Annin Township government stop.  Those meetings were fascinating. Public comments were interspersed with the items on the agenda. I wish the supervisors and the borough council would flip a coin, or arm wrestle or something, and the loser give up first Monday nights. Or just reasonably agree, so as to let both have press coverage.

Once in a while the borough council has switched its meeting onto the second Monday because of Labor Day or some other holiday. On those occasions I have wailed piteously. This seemed to amuse some of the of the officials. At least it was just once in a while! I would attend the school board meeting, and try to mop up as much as possible from the borough by getting the borough secretary to e-mail me the documents and fill me in on what was decided about the items on the agenda.

Recently I was blindsided by a change that will prevent me from covering about half of the school board meetings. (Okay, most of my sides are blind, right?) I did not know a change was in the offing until the calendar of 2015 meetings was about to be acted upon, Thursday night..

The calendar had been presented to the board for their thoughtful consideration last month, with the vote to follow this month. But I did not receive a copy of that list of meeting dates, and did not realize a change in the rhythm of board meetings was being contemplated.

Usually I would get that list when it was just a proposal, and usually I would glance at it and notice it did not represent a change in the custom of meeting on second and fourth Mondays. It must have been omitted inadvertently when the press packet was being put together. I heard it mentioned, but not as a major change.

After all, the school board has been meeting on second and fourth Monday nights for—decades, probably. What has happened to necessitate this change? Did board members request the change?

As soon as I realized what was being decided, I did attempt to tell the board that first Mondays are the regular meeting time of the borough council. I was given almost no opportunity to address the board.

Later I was told by the superintendent that he would share information with me prior to the committee-of-the-whole meeting, and if matters were voted on I could get the outcomes from the secretary. Plus there are always the minutes; and there is the school district website; and if people want to know what the board is doing, they can come to the meetings.

Non sequiturs, as I see it. News accounts are no substitute for minutes, and minutes do not serve as news reporting. The press is called the Fourth Estate since the days of the French Revolution, because we serve the public in a unique way, but are not the King or the Parliament (and not the Church either). I believe the public wants the press to be there for them. Many readers contact me about local government matters.

I am not the issue. I assume our readers want some reporter there—doesn’t have to be me, hasn’t always been, won’t always be,

Telling us there’s always the website is like saying we can always read the school newsletter (is there still one?). Worse, in that some people aren’t online, but all postal patrons get mailings.

School newsletters and websites are “house organs.” They are the school telling the public what it wants to tell the public. Fine, interesting, lots of extra details and fun stuff, but NOT coverage of how the school district is being governed.

We of the media believe you want to be alerted when the board may be about to drop a sport. When the board may be embarking on a spending/borrowing plan. When a course might be dropped, or staff might be cut, or expanded. Some reporter, I or my successor, should have access to those board meetings when they are happening.

We have nine school board members, seven borough council members. They have many constituents in common. They should want all of us in on their work on our behalf, able to observe their discussions and decisions first-hand or through the media. We should not have to choose which is more important, and forego the other. The Sunshine Law is mocked in its effect by accidental, but preventable, conflicts like this. But it can be unblocked, can’t it?

First Tuesdays, anyone?

Peace.