2008 Woodie Awards
Board approves compression salary study at Kerrville resort retreat
By Regis L. Roberts
Issue date: 6/30/08 Section: News
Originally published: 7/11/08 at 4:41 PM CSTLast update: 9/4/08 at 2:03 PM CST
Gil Castillo, associate director of student life, brought members of Staff Council from different district colleges to speak to the board about compression.
When asked if it was appropriate to discuss such an important issue away from the people it will affect, Castillo said the board was doing the employees a favor by taking up this issue at the retreat, adding that the board could have waited, but it would not have been able to be adopted for July 1.
Chancellor Bruce Leslie responded similarly, pointing to the tabling of action from the previous board meeting.
He said it was decided to have the retreat in Kerrville because it is in the district's service area, and the district is working to open a service center in Kerrville.
The board, however, is elected only by residents of Bexar County, who pay property taxes to the district.
Katherine Garner, executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, said a governmental body could not meet out of the country or even out of state. This precedent was set in 2002 by then-Texas Attorney General John Cornyn in an opinion given in response to an inquiry by the board of regents of the University of Texas System. The board chair, Charles Miller, requested Cornyn's opinion of whether the board of regents could conduct a public meeting in Mexico, to which the attorney general responded it could not. The attorney general further found that a governmental body could not conduct such a meeting even if it was telecast.
The meeting in Kerrville, having been posted with agenda items in accordance with the Open Meetings Act, is not against the law, but, Garner said, it is "skirting the law a bit."
Garner said she would advise them not to have a meeting in such a location, believing meetings should be discussed in the open to the board constituents but added that it is not her place to say.
Castillo signed up to address the board about compression and was satisfied with the board's actions, saying, "I feel good about this now."
When asked if it was appropriate to discuss such an important issue away from the people it will affect, Castillo said the board was doing the employees a favor by taking up this issue at the retreat, adding that the board could have waited, but it would not have been able to be adopted for July 1.
Chancellor Bruce Leslie responded similarly, pointing to the tabling of action from the previous board meeting.
He said it was decided to have the retreat in Kerrville because it is in the district's service area, and the district is working to open a service center in Kerrville.
The board, however, is elected only by residents of Bexar County, who pay property taxes to the district.
Katherine Garner, executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, said a governmental body could not meet out of the country or even out of state. This precedent was set in 2002 by then-Texas Attorney General John Cornyn in an opinion given in response to an inquiry by the board of regents of the University of Texas System. The board chair, Charles Miller, requested Cornyn's opinion of whether the board of regents could conduct a public meeting in Mexico, to which the attorney general responded it could not. The attorney general further found that a governmental body could not conduct such a meeting even if it was telecast.
The meeting in Kerrville, having been posted with agenda items in accordance with the Open Meetings Act, is not against the law, but, Garner said, it is "skirting the law a bit."
Garner said she would advise them not to have a meeting in such a location, believing meetings should be discussed in the open to the board constituents but added that it is not her place to say.
Castillo signed up to address the board about compression and was satisfied with the board's actions, saying, "I feel good about this now."
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