Opinion ID: 883077
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: public participation and the board packet issue

Text: The third issue on appeal is whether State Fund should be required to mail a copy of the agenda and the meeting materials or Board packet to anyone who requests it, prior to a meeting of the State Fund Board of Directors (Board). Board agendas and packets of materials are generally mailed to Board members a week to ten days in advance of meetings. On June 3, 1991, MHCA requested advance notice of Board meetings and advance copies of the agenda and other materials sent to Board members. Patrick Sweeney promised to ask his receptionist to call MHCA two or three days before each Board meeting, but he declined to provide packets on the grounds that the materials would be available at the State Fund office to anyone who wished to inspect them. Appellants contend that agenda materials sent to members of the Board must be mailed to interested members of the public in advance of Board meetings. They argue that Article II, section 8 of the Montana Constitution, which establishes a right to such reasonable opportunity for citizen participation in the operation of governmental agencies as may be provided by law, and the Public Participation Act that implements it, require State Fund to provide any interested person with advance notice of the agenda and copies of materials distributed to Board members. See §§ 2-3-101 through -114, MCA. In short, appellants assert that by refusing to mail Board packets to members of the public who request them, State Fund denies the public a reasonable opportunity for meaningful public participation before final decisions are made. State Fund contends that MHCA's right to public participation is not impaired by State Fund's refusal to mail advance Board packets on request because the material is available at State Fund's office, which is across the street from MHCA's office. No one else has requested an advance Board packet. The District Court agreed, holding that State Fund is not required to mail Board packets. We affirm. As we held in Kadillak v. Anaconda Co. (1979), 184 Mont. 127, 141, 602 P.2d 147, 155, the right to participate is limited to those instances where that right is provided by law. Neither the Public Participation Act nor the Open Meetings Act requires advance mailings. Making Board agenda materials available to the public at State Fund's office, in our view, provides a reasonable opportunity for participation. The Public Participation Act does require advance notice of final agency action, however, and the District Court pointed out that State Fund has not always complied with this provision (§ 2-3-103, MCA). Further, § 2-3-103 requires state agencies, including State Fund, to develop procedures for public participation. State Fund has adopted only one rule providing for public participation, and it provides that the date, time and place of a Board meeting may be obtained by contacting the State Fund office. The District Court found that this provision is not adequate, and we agree. State Fund, however, did not appeal the District Court's conclusion that it must adopt rules that comply with § 2-3-103, MCA.