Secret Meetings

 

Secretive proceedings by the Pocahontas County Solid Waste Authority (SWA) have severely degraded the public's understanding of local waste management plans, replacing clarity with widespread distrust, outrage, and allegations of collusion.

These secretive actions have impacted the public's understanding in several critical ways:

• Fueling Suspicion Over Unbid Contracts: Because the SWA pursued a 15-year, $5 million to $6 million transfer station agreement with a private contractor (Allegheny Disposal/Jacob Meck) without a competitive public bidding process, residents have been left to view the deal as an opaque and potentially illegal maneuver. This secrecy prevents the public from fully understanding why they are facing massive fee hikes, a forced monopoly via "Flow Control" regulations, and the potential transfer of public landfill property to private entities.

 

• Silencing Community Input: By deliberately excluding a slot for public comment from the agenda for their critical March 19th special meeting, the SWA further alienated the community. This exclusionary tactic blocks a two-way dialogue, leaving citizens in the dark and frustrated over major impending decisions, such as the elimination of the state-mandated "Free Day" and the expansion of "Green Box" fees to all county properties.

 

• Violating the Spirit of State Transparency Laws: The West Virginia Open Governmental Proceedings Act (OGMA) mandates that public business be conducted openly because citizens "do not yield their sovereignty to the governmental agencies that serve them," nor do they grant public servants the right to decide what is "good" for the public to know. The law strictly requires "reasonably descriptive" agendas so that the public can actually comprehend the issues at hand before a vote is taken.

 

• Masking the Mechanics of Property Transfers: When public bodies misapply open meeting laws—such as using vague agenda items like "Property Matters" or improperly making final decisions behind closed doors in "executive sessions"—it strips the public of their ability to understand how taxpayer assets are being managed. Officials who habitually rely on secret meetings to broker collusive property transfers or contracts prevent public understanding to such a degree that they may become subject to criminal presentment by a grand jury.

Ultimately, the West Virginia Legislature recognizes that public confidence and understanding actually ease resistance to government programs. By operating what citizens have called a "secretive operation," the SWA has achieved the exact opposite—creating a political crisis where residents feel completely disenfranchised from understanding the financial risks threatening their county.