So, Did Glendale Violate Open Meeting Laws...???

((HT: AZCentral.com/Giblin))

It was a question the HQ had in all of its coverage leading up to the city of Glendale prostituting itself to the National Hockey League to the tune of keeping the (now) Arizona Coyotes at jobing.com arena a few weeks ago...

As the league set its ideas in motion, Commissioner Gary Bettman and Number Two Bill Daly met with city council members in groups of two or three (or individually) as a way to get around the Open Meetings Law, having any minutes available for future reference, or having (frankly) any kind of record on paper to see just what back door dealings were cut to keep Glendale with a hockey team, keep the league from having to move a hockey team at the last minute, and keep Renaissance Sports and Entertainment from getting a hockey team.

Meetings held in secret and out of the public eye are always on the up-and-up, aren't they...???

A complaint has been filed by a Glendale resident with the state Attorney General's Office on just that very idea.

A July 2 letter by Assistant Attorney General Christopher Munns was sent to interim City Manager Dick Bowers.

It said, according to Giblin:

“The complaints allege that the council violated the Open Meetings Law by conducting sequential meetings of council members in a number less than a quorum in order to discuss official town business without needing to comply with the requirements of the law,” Munns states in the letter.

Munns asked Bowers to provide additional information about the serial meetings by July 26.

If Glendale violated the Open Meetings Law, penalties range from fines of as much as $500 per person, repaying the state for their attorney fees during their investigation, and removal from public office...

How that would affect the deal with RSE is anyone's guess...

While the interim city attorney for the city of Glendale only describes the meetings as meet-and-greet, resident Ken Sturgis, who said he filed a complaint, thinks otherwise...

“It’s hard to believe that this kind of contract that was put together and presented later wasn’t talked about. I find that very hard to believe,” he told Giblin.

As does the HQ... but what will happen probably won't have much impact on what has already gone down...

Here were the questions Glendale mayor Jerry Weiers had a few months ago- and, probably, still does...
((HT: AZPBS))