On a vote of 10-6, a resolution was passed at the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors meeting on Dec. 18, that will make it possible to exclude supervisors of the county board from closed sessions of committee meetings by a vote of 10-6.
According to Rule 3F, “any committee of the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors may vote to exclude from a closed session meeting any supervisor, whether a member of that committee or not, where that supervisor has a conflict of interest of a business, financial, personal or family nature.”
There was much discussion on this topic by the board before they voted to approve the resolution introducing the new rule, with some supervisors believing it to be unnecessary, while others firmly stated that it was very necessary.
Chairman Sauer stated that the introduction of this rule had come about as a result of a past closed session meeting in August, after which a non-committee member who had attended then shared the information discussed with people outside of closed session.
“I don’t think [that’s] very ethical in my opinion,” said Sauer, “I don’t think it should happen.”    
Supervisor, Dwayne Larson stated that he doesn’t think the rule is necessary: “I think it’s bad government when you close meetings to the county board,” he said.
Supervisor, Bob Boyle said the addition of the rule was “reactionary,” referring to the incident that happened in August. “Reactionary politics is never good,” he added.
Other board members mentioned that it was unfortunate that there needed to be a rule such as this, but that it appeared to be necessary with information from closed sessions having been leaked in the past.
When it came to a vote, 10 of the county supervisors voted in favor of passing the addition of the rule, while 6 voted against it.