The attorney for the Village of Ruidoso has responded to FOG's
open-meetings complaint with a long defense of the council's actions, implying that FOG is being too much of a stickler. Nonetheless, the council planned to vote on the disputed action again in tonight's properly-noticed regular meeting.
Read the response.
While it's good that this particular action will be made valid, the underlying disagreement over the legality of the council's action is still unresolved. And FOG makes no apologies for being a stickler on the Open Meetings Act. There are minimum legal requirements in place for a reason, and they offer minimal assurances that the public's business is being conducted in the open. If you get pulled over for speeding, you can argue that you had a really good reason for speeding, and that the speed limit is ridiculous. But that doesn't make your speeding legal. And any cop might reasonably suspect that you are likely to speed again, as soon as he's not looking. The Open Meetings Act protects the public, and we expect it to be followed to the letter.