Open Meetings Act training to return to Wrangell

The Wrangell Medical Center (WMC) wants to bring back an Anchorage attorney to lead a workshop on Alaska’s Open Meeting Act.

In early March, the City and Borough of Wrangell hosted two free days of training on the state law. The classes, open to the public, were taught by Michael Gatti, an attorney who works for a private firm in Anchorage, and Krista Stearns, who serves as the city attorney in Kenai.

At its meeting last month, the WMC Board of Directors agreed to bring Gatti back to Wrangell to lead a workshop for board members on the Open Meetings Act.

WMC Chief Executive Officer Noel Selle-Rea said Gatti has previously worked with the hospital, and board members and administration who attended the training in March were happy with his instruction.

However, because of the way the classes were structured, not every WMC Board member — or any full board or local committee — could attend.

If every member of a board were present at the March classes, a quorum of the board would have existed. A quorum of a board allows its members to take action, and as required by law, a meeting would have had to have been called to order.

Advertising that such a meeting would occur at the Open Meetings Act classes, would not have been enough according to the attorneys, Borough Clerk Christie Jamieson said.

“So that is the reason quorums of the board and committees were not present,” she said.

However, there was positive feedback from the local board and committee members who did attend the classes, but those who could not, have expressed disappointment.

At the April 18th WMC Board meeting, board member Jim Nelson asked Assembly liaison David Jack to see if Assembly members would be interested in joining the workshop. And, at last week’s Assembly meeting, the Assembly directed Jamieson to coordinate with WMC to see if such a joint workshop could be scheduled.

WMC has agreed to pay for the cost of having Gatti lead the workshop.