Restricted Web site raises a flap

A Web site set up two years ago for committee collaboration on the Lakeside Neighborhood Plan was shut down Tuesday at the request of the Flathead County attorney because of public-access concerns.

Barb Miller, a retired computer systems project manager and member of the Lakeside Neighborhood Plan Committee, said she set up a private, by-invitation-only Yahoo site for convenience to share files, schedule and announce meetings and e-mail responses to questions or issues as the Lakeside Neighborhood Plan was being put together.

In addition to committee members, the county Planning Office staff received and sent e-mails via the members-only site.

"I don't know that anything illegal was done, but we don't like government agencies to do things the public can't see," Deputy County Attorney Jonathan Smith said.

The matter was brought to the county's attention recently when members of the American Dream property-rights group complained about the 'secret" Web site maintained by the Lakeside committee.

American Dream requested to become a member on May 1. In an e-mail to county planner Andrew Hagemeier three days later, Miller said she had "taken no action on this yet, so they are still listed as a 'pending' member on our Yahoo group, but they cannot gain access to it."

"The request will expire automatically in 14 days if I take no action and right now I intend on taking no action," Miller told Hagemeier in the e-mail.

At that point Hagemeier told Miller he had talked to the county attorney about access.

"For now don't respond," Hagemeier e-mailed Miller regarding the American Dream request. "I am forwarding the request to him (the county attorney)."

Donna Thornton, an active member of American Dream, said she and other members of the organization simply wanted information about the Lakeside Neighborhood Plan.

"I want to be involved if it involves my property," said Thornton, who with her husband, Dennis, own acreage in the Lakeside area. "We just want openness and honesty in our government."

The Thorntons had voiced concerns about access to public documents in an April 6 letter to the county commissioners, noting they had asked for files on the Lakeside Neighborhood Plan update but didn't get a response for more than two months.

Miller set up the Web group so that as the moderator she could review any new members. After spam slipped through the junk e-mail filter, she said, she changed the configuration to make it more restrictive so no one could access it, send e-mail or be a member unless Miller approved it.

"I want to make it clear that the Web site was set up to help with the logistics' of the neighborhood planning process, Miller said. "There was no collusion, no secrecy and no conspiracy."

The main reason for the membership requirement was to avoid spam and potential computer viruses, she said.

Miller said the Web site was opened to the public in late May and at that point anyone was able to join the site. The Lakeside group had stopped using the site when allegations about its secret nature surfaced in late April, she added.

Once American Dream was able to access the site, Thornton said she and others perused the information and noticed 257 missing e-mails since the site's beginning in late 2007.

The Yahoo group site had file-size restrictions, Miller explained, so once the site became overloaded with files, she deleted e-mails or documents to accommodate the size parameters.

"At no time was this our official record," she told Hagemeier in a May 4 e-mail, "just a convenient way to share documents and opinions and announce and remind people of our meetings."

Hagemeier said the group site initially seemed benign because it operated in a fashion similar to the county's computer server that's used to store documents and exchange information.

"No red flags came up, but once they were raised, we could see the point" of others' concerns, he said.

Planning Director Jeff Harris is out of the office this week and unavailable for comment, but Assistant Planning Director BJ Grieve said "Jeff Harris has stated it [the Yahoo site] probably was not the best method, and our knowledge was limited. Once it came to light, we acknowledged [the concerns' and took steps' to open it to the public.

In reviewing the Web site's content, Hagemeier, for full disclosure, told Smith and the county commissioners that he found three instances where Miller asked for either approval of an item or a vote via the members-only site.

The site also raised eyebrows with county Planning Board member George Culpepper Jr., who e-mailed Harris on May 5 inquiring about the Yahoo site.

"When did the government become a private enterprise?" Culpepper asked. "Having a 'secret' Yahoo group of those who drafted the plan flies in the face of government transparency and public participation. How long has this private group been in existence and how can they submit a document that seems to be done under the cloak of privacy?"

Harris called Culpepper several days later and said the Lakeside group would make the site available to the public.

In a follow-up e-mail, Harris told Culpepper "every person, whether a property owner or renter, wherever they live, must be given the opportunity to participate in the public process on anything related to the growth policy."

Smith issued a memorandum to Harris on May 12, recommending that the committee close down the Web site after creating a paper file containing printed copies of all documents on the Web site and then making those documents available to the public.

"Our statutes may not have kept up with advances in technology in recent years," Smith said in his memo to Harris. "We cannot state that the maintenance of the Web site described is per se prohibited by the statutes. However, when a committee subject to the open meeting and public document acts maintains a Web site that is not accessible by the public, it may well create a perception that the public's business is not being carried out in sight of the public.

"We believe that the public's right to watch government action should prevail even when efficiency suffers," Smith continued.

On the public Lakeside plan Web site, at www.lakesideplan2008.com, the committee says it stands by its use of the Yahoo site and, in fact, "encourages the county not to prohibit its use in the future; but rather help to define ways or procedures so that it could be used, while still maintaining openness to the public.

"It is a great, efficient and free tool that facilitates groups working together toward a shared product or goal," the Lakeside Web site states.

Copies of e-mails, memorandums and other documents for this story were supplied to the Daily Inter Lake by the Flathead County Planning Office and Donna Thornton.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com