Mackinaw City public officials will be heading back to school in 2010. The village is planning a training session about the Open Meetings Act and public meeting procedures to take place sometime after the first of the year. Members of the Village Council, Planning Commission, economic development corporation, and other village public bodies are all encouraged to attend.

Village Manager Jeff Lawson said it would be a good idea for new and current members of those boards to have a refresher course on the proper lines of communication for public officials. The decision to open the training to other municipalities would be up the Village Council.

"Training sessions are not unusual on different topics," he said. "We've had joint meetings in the past about different types of training. Issues have come up before and we've had joint boards and commissions come together here to train or we've gone to other places, like over in St. Ignace when they had their training" on the Open Meetings Act in February 2008. With three new members serving on the council, it is an opportune time to offer the training, he noted.

New members on the village council are Steven Celez, Michalak, and Richard Perlick.

Mr. Lawson recently spoke to village attorney Tom Evashevski with questions about the act proposed by the Village Planning Commission. Mr. Evashevski recommended the training session, which he will likely facilitate.

"The best way for everyone to get answers is to go through the training, hear everything at the same time, and ask questions. It's very difficult to cover all aspects of a written document and summarize it in a few phrases," Mr. Lawson said. "It's really a training item."

Discussion about the Open Meetings Act was raised at the planning commission meeting Thursday, November 12. The commission is concerned that the act could limit a commission committee's ability to communicate while gathering information for a wind turbine ordinance.

Commission Chair Rob Most questioned what the committee's limitations are on communication outside of a public meeting. He wants a clearer definition of what is legal and what is not.

"My goal in bringing this up is for us to follow the law, but to find any way possible that we can follow the law and do our work more productively and quicker not in the sense of just getting it finished, but being able to work with each other and get things done in different ways besides only being able to dialogue with each other only sitting at this table," he said. "We want nothing more than to stay within the law when we do our job."

Citizens have a right to know what's going on in government by opening to full public view the processes by which elected and non-elected officials make decisions on citizens' behalf. This right is protected by the Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act. The decisions, and deliberation toward those decisions, of elected officials are made in meetings that are open to the public, under the Open Meetings Act. Notice of public meetings must be posted publicly at least 18 hours prior to the meeting.