Apparently there's a troupe of residents of Brookings who are peeved off. Why? Just one of those secret things decided by a public body behind closed doors without informing the public as to what their plans are......  Recently, the Brookings county commission has started to buy up property around the courthouse according to "some plan."

And that secrecy (as well as some potential violations of the open meeting laws) has people all riled up.

What has everyone mad? The County Commission has undertaken a plan to go on a land buying spree for surrounding properties, and are already saying that they intend to knock them down.  Except they won't tell anyone what the plan is, with said plan being decided behind closed door. If there is actually a plan. As I had noted when it came up in the newspaper once before....

"They are not open meetings," he responded. It's a task force. We've signed a confidentiality agreement at this so we can discuss all kinds of crazy things that don't end up in the newspaper, he said. "And some of the things that we've come up with are kind of crazy I think.

And we don't want to excite a lot of people until we have a plan. And at this point we do not have a plan.'"

Err, yeah. Right. I would point out that the land owners are not doing anything wrong.  They're interested in selling properties for a set price to a willing buyer. I would too.  The problem with this lays solely at the feet of the county commission doing things any public body should be embarrassed to do.  And even the county commission itself is divided on it.

The discussion at one point became contentious as Gregg accused Falken of continually criticizing Gregg's actions as a member of the task force.

The task force was started by the Brookings Economic Development Corporation and also includes city council members and other local officials . It was formed earlier this year shortly after the commission's attempt to purchase Gas 'N Mor on Sixth Street for use as an administrative building fell through. The group's stated purpose is to provide more input on the space-needs issue the county has been wrestling with for years.

and...

He also asked Gregg and Larson why they hadn't provided more information to the commission about the options the task force is considering. "I don't want to circumvent anything that's happening , but I really haven't heard anything coming back from the committee yet of any potential things that we could possibly be looking at," he said.

Commission Chairman Larson responded that the task force had been forwarding written reports to both the city council and county commission to update the boards on the task force's progress. (Those documents have not been made available to the Register.)

Larson told Falken that the task force discussions are separate from the commission's actions, and that the task force would discuss the purchase if and when it becomes official.

Read it all here.  Secret documents and the bodies involved aren't fully informed of what's going on?  No wonder their plans are being referred to a vote!

It seems as if the county is trying to nibble away at the surrounding properties while intentionally concealing what they're up to, as in the words of one commissioner, while he attempts to defend and rationalize what the commission is doing...

"It's kind of like going to McDonald's and eating a Big Mac," he said. "If you take her all down at once, you're going to choke. We've got to take a little bit of a step at a time, and after we get this completed then we'll move onto the next process."

So, they'll just expend public dollars and then let us all know about what their plan is after it's completed - without any opportunity for discussion, dissent and debate? Amazing.

This situation on the part of some commissioners acting without opening up their plans for a public airing is shameful. I have heard word that some people out there are so mad about this that they may contemplate a recall effort for the members of the county commission. But at the moment, they've been out there collecting signatures on petitions to contest the County Commission's actions.

And guess what - it appears that they might just have done it:

Good morning everyone!

This is the first update of the day (Wednesday, 17 June) – but we wanted you to know…….we did it!

We currently have over a thousand signatures – and petitions are still coming in! You are truly awesome!

OK – so here’s the schedule for the day:

• Nancy and Gloria will take the first 1000 notarized signatures to the courthouse as close to 9:15 this morning as possible [this timeline is doorbell and phone call dependent - J ]. Marty (Gloria’s other half) will be at 715 4th St. while we are at the courthouse.
• We know there are still signatures being collected, and signatures that are being notarized. We plan to take a second batch of signatures to the courthouse as soon after 1:15 as possible, and we will make a final delivery at 4:30 this afternoon.
• If you already have signatures collected, please have them notarized and deliver them to Gloria’s (715 4th St) as soon as possible – so we can include them in the 1:00 PM delivery.
• If you are still collecting – wonderful! Please get those signatures notarized and delivered to Gloria’s no later than 2:30 this afternoon.
• If you need a ride to a notary, or need notarized signatures picked up, please call Nancy or Gloria or Marty
• If you have signatures that come in after that, call us! We’ll decide the best way to get them counted – because our window to add signatures closes when the courthouse closes at 5:00 today!
• If you would like to take part in any of the three deliveries (or all of them!) – please let us know so we can be watching for you. Again: as close to the following times as we can make it: 9:15; 1:15; and 4:30.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!!!!! More updates as the day goes on! Nancy and Gloria

Stay tuned, and watch the news today for more on the petitions being turned in.