Mount St. Helens panel to hold closed-door meeting
Wednesday, June 25, 2008 11:30 PM PDT
By Barbara LaBoe
Printable version
E-mail this articleThe Mount St. Helens Advisory Committee is holding a private, closed-door meeting in Kelso Thursday night to regroup and clear the air, officials said, adding there’s no reason to meet in public and that no decisions will be made.
The three co-chairmen — county commissioners from Cowlitz, Lewis and Skamania counties — said Wednesday that the closed-door session is needed to allow a candid, frank discussion among committee members about their goals and the process for the upcoming months. The group also will meet with representatives from the four Congressional offices that called for the committee, U.S. Reps. Brian Baird and Norm Dicks and U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, to get further direction on their mission.
The committee was formed to make recommendations to the state’s Congressional delegation about the future of Mount St. Helens, including whether it should remain part of the U.S. Forest Service or move to the National Parks Service.
As a congressional advisory committee, the 13-person group is not bound by open public meeting laws to hold the discussion in public. Members have said, though, they want to be open and transparent and have held all previous meetings in public — including their initial organizational session. A web site, at http://www.skamaniacounty.org/SHAC.htm, also was created to inform the public of meetings and issues.
Asked why this meeting was closed when the volcano’s future is of such high public interest, two of the co-chairs bristled and said it’s nothing out of the ordinary and that they support and follow public meetings laws.
“This is a perfectly legitimate closed-door meeting,” said Skamania County Commissioner Paul Pearce. “We need to have a discussion about how we’re doing and what we’re doing and how we’re going to proceed and those need to be between members without a concern for the public reaction to those discussions. ... We’re not making any decisions or recommendations.”
“Under no conditions is this about excluding the public while making decisions,” Pearce added. “Never. Not at all.”
“This is not a decision meeting about the mountain, this is an organizational-type meeting to get direction from (Congressional) representatives about where they want us to be going,” said Lewis County Commissioner Lee Grose. “It’s not like we’re hiding anything, but we feel we can get more done in a shorter amount of time ... We can have a more frank discussion (in private).”
Axel Swanson, the Cowlitz County commissioner on the group, said he would be fine with the meeting being open but the group as a whole agreed a month ago to keep it closed. The reason, Swanson said, was to ensure members could be candid with their questions and comments.
Speaking in a public meeting sometimes “stifles conversation when the public is sitting there waiting for you to say something or someone is there with a pen writing it down. You’re a lot less likely to lob out an idea,” Swanson said. “And I think the thought there is that you’ll lose some candid conversation.”
Baird, who initially created the committee, declined to comment about the closing of Thursday’s meeting, citing time constraints during a busy day of voting.
The meeting will be held in the Cowlitz County Administration Building in Kelso and is scheduled from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., the same as two other public meetings.
The co-chairs wouldn’t go into detail about the committee’s issues, but they did mention the need for more direction and structure and to be sure there are no preconceived agendas.
“It’s not about Mount St. Helens,” Pearce said of the meeting. “It’s about how the committee moves forward and what, if any, agendas committee members have and to clear the air.”
“I’m very much in favor of open public access, but there are some things that in order to get differences worked out internally that we need (to do in private),” Grose said.
Swanson said he felt that the group got ahead of itself in taking public testimony before having a structure in place to record and archive that information. He also said the group needs better direction on how to communicate, especially given how new they are to each other and how spread out they are geographically.
It’s similar to a concern Swanson raised during the initial organizational meeting in March, which was held in public.
Then, Swanson suggested hiring a consultant or facilitator to keep everyone focused. Pearce —citing a lack of budget among other reasons — said he didn’t need a “highfalutin’ consultant to tell me how we ought to figure out what we ought to do.” The rest of the committee agreed.
Pearce on Wednesday questioned why the closed door meeting was even newsworthy, saying Legislative committees and even planning departments do the same thing routinely.
“If we were taking testimony or deliberating on some direction or making some decision on recommendations (in private) then shame on us, and I mean that,” Pearce said. “But this is really about having a candid conversation amongst the people on the board and the people who appointed us.”
bizowner wrote on Jun 26, 2008 6:13 AM:
a. Monument needs a separate defined funding source that doesn't compete with USFS firefighting and forest management dollars.
b. A campground / recreational area is needed on 504 in or near the Monument. This part of the Monument could be re-classed as forest land if needed.
c. Current recreational uses of the Monument including snowmobiling & hunting must be retained.
d. Any restructing of the Monument must not have a negative impact on area industry including Weyco. "
common man wrote on Jun 26, 2008 6:56 AM:
Rural Citizen wrote on Jun 26, 2008 8:26 AM:
Too bad that so much deceit has occurred that the people no longer trust anyone. We have been screwed and we know it. "
luke the drifter wrote on Jun 26, 2008 8:38 AM:
Loowit wrote on Jun 26, 2008 8:57 AM:
1) Review the Monument Act, state and Federal wildlife laws and Monument Fish/Wildlife plan, and the Monument Plan and provide the Senators with a report on how well the USFS has followed its own plans and our laws.
2) Provide a list of options to improve the USFS management IMMEDIATELY (including items planned for and approved but never implimented like fishing in Spirit Lake and adding Campgrounds--which the Monument Act specifically calls for)
3) Compare long term management alternatives (Park vs. Forest) and make a recommendation for funding and agency that best values taxpayers, community, tourism and historic values. (By the way the correct answer is keep the USFS and give them line item budget)
4) Create a citizen oversight committee to keep the USFS on track in the future, and check the power of one group of scientists so there is no more using "administrative" actions to circumvent laws and the Monument Plan, which is happening now.
5) Update the Monument plan ASAP.
What do you all think about this for direction? "
bizowner wrote on Jun 26, 2008 10:16 AM:
concerned1 wrote on Jun 26, 2008 11:47 AM:
Perhaps Pearce is concerned that a consultant would see the forest for the trees and put a stop to his personal agenda. Look at the destruction he has allowed in his own county.
Lets get real here. The people on this advisory committee were appointed because they were supposed to represent the views of various groups concerned about the issue. How do concerned citizens make their oppinions known with closed door meetings? The meetings in the past have all been civil, with people passionate about the area speaking freely. Why stop that? Unless they have something to hide??? "
My Kids' Mom wrote on Jun 26, 2008 2:16 PM:
Loowit wrote on Jun 26, 2008 8:25 PM:
My Kids' Mom wrote on Jun 26, 2008 10:08 PM:
My Kids' Mom wrote on Jun 26, 2008 10:14 PM:
bluE wrote on Jun 27, 2008 3:32 PM:
sounds like just the type of person i want making decisions for me and my future.
i am afraid that our mountain and its beautiful surroundings that i have watched grow back throughout almost the whole of my life are doomed, destined to end up a commercial industrial wasteland like everything else these money greedy, resource hogs get their laws and bloodstained hands upon.
as for you folks who think selling out is gonna bring jobs, look around you at your mess you live in.... thats what it has got you... times are changing, we better embrace mother earth, permaculture, and sustainable life......... or shes gonna wipe the slate clean and start over. "
Past Month's Most Commented Stories