Thursday afternoon, we logged on for the San Juan Water Conservancy District’s (SJWCD’s) special meeting, interested in what the next chapter of the ongoing disagreement over Running Iron Ranch might hold.
While the SJWCD noticed the gathering as a special meeting to hold an executive session, the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD), which jointly owns the property with the SJWCD, noticed it as a joint work session.
We were intrigued.
But what happened during the meeting quickly fell to second place when we witnessed the SJWCD tell someone they couldn’t record the public meeting (you can) and then remove a different member of the public from the meeting.
The same member of the public was removed again following the executive session.
We immediately found it ridiculous that a member of the public would be removed from a public meeting without disrupting the meeting in some manner.
Both times, the member of the public, who had logged on via Zoom using only a first name, was asked in the Zoom chat to identify themselves or they would be removed. Before much time had gone by, they were gone.
We’ll note others were also logged on using only their first name or using some variation of a name that was not a full name, and they were not treated in the same manner. Perhaps the board knew or assumed they knew who these people were, but we’re not sure. We only saw inconsistent treatment.
From watching the Zoom chat, it was unclear if the member of the public who was later removed was even fully admitted to the meeting before being asked to identify themselves or if they ever knew they were asked to identify themselves.
After the member of the public was removed the second time, we emailed the SJWCD asking for an explanation for why they would remove a member of the public multiple times when others who were identified in the same way were allowed to attend.
We’re not satisfied with board president Candace Jones’ answer: “It’s a practice developed in response to past Zoom bomb experience. I have attended other public meetings in which people online are asked to identify themselves for the record so it is not unprecedented to make that request.”
Just because it’s not unprecedented doesn’t mean it’s right. The SJWCD is a tax-collecting district that must follow open meetings laws. There is no requirement in the law that individuals must identify themselves when attending a public meeting to observe.
Instead of increasing security through other methods, such as using a webinar format or seeing how other governmental entities prevent inappropriate content, the SJWCD opted to take the route of removing people who likely call this community home and pay taxes to that district.
There are a multitude of reasons why someone may not identify themselves publicly, especially via Zoom chat: not knowing how to access the chat function (or even that it exists), having stepped away for something like a glass of water or to take their dog outside before the meeting begins or resumes, listening on a phone without staring at the screen, feeling uncomfortable identifying themselves in public, etc.
We expect the SJWCD to revisit how open its meetings are and do better. We, the taxpayers, deserve it.
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