Opinion ID: 1834498
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Compliance with Public Hearing Requirement

Text: The Board argues that the Commission violated Iowa Code section 331.235(2) by failing to comply with the section's public hearing requirements. The Commission asserts that a public hearing it held on November 9, 1993 substantially complied with the statutory requirement. Section 331.235(2) provides: 2. Within nine months after the organization of the commission, the commission shall submit a preliminary report to the board, which report may include the text of the proposed charter.... Sufficient copies of the report shall be made available for distribution to residents of the county who request a copy. The commission shall hold at least one public hearing after submission of the preliminary report to obtain public comment. Iowa law requires that county bodies substantially comply with open meetings laws. Substantial compliance requires that the Commission's actions must have been consistent with the meaning and purpose of the open meetings provisions. KCOB/KLVN v. Jasper County Bd. of Supervisors, 473 N.W.2d 171, 176 (Iowa 1991). The Commission submitted its preliminary report to the Board of Supervisors on January 28, 1993. The Commission subsequently held a public hearing on November 9, 1993. The public notice of the hearing stated that its purpose was to obtain public comment on the recently completed draft of the charter. The Board argues that the Commission did not comply with the statute because there is no proof that copies of the preliminary report were available for the public at the hearing. The statute, however, does not require that copies of the report be available at the hearing, it merely states that copies of the report shall be made available. Iowa Code § 331.235(2). As a public record, copies of the preliminary report were available upon request by members of the public beginning with the report's submission on January 28, 1993. In addition, the statute does not specify that the Commission must hold a hearing to receive public comment on the preliminary report, but instead merely states that after submission of the preliminary report, the Commission must hold a public hearing to obtain public comment. Iowa Code § 331.235(2). The purpose of the public hearing requirement was to provide the public with the opportunity to comment on the operations of the Commission, the proposed charter, and/or the preliminary report. Since the preliminary report was a matter of public record for approximately ten months before the hearing, individuals seeking to comment on it could have obtained a copy and discussed it at the meeting even if copies were not available at the meeting. Moreover, the public hearing on November 9, 1993 which solicited comment on a proposed charter available for inspection at the meeting and before was of more benefit in providing information to the public than was the preliminary report. The Commission substantially complied with the requirements of section 331.235(2). The district court correctly found that the Commission acted within its statutorily-mandated powers in creating the proposed charter and in finding the charter free from legal defects. The district court's grant of a writ of mandamus compelling the Board to place the question of the adoption of the proposed charter on the election ballot is therefore affirmed. AFFIRMED.