This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Liquor-control commissioners closed a meeting on Thursday to discuss their relationship with the department's acting director, Francine Giani.
Problem is, someone forget to turn off the intercom.
Both The Salt Lake Tribune and KTVX, Ch. 4, protested that discussions involving a department head do not fall under the state Open and Public Meetings Act.
Giani also voiced concerns about the inappropriateness of excluding the public from the discussion. Commissioners closed the meeting on a unanimous vote, saying it involved a personnel matter.
But microphones were left on, allowing the sound to be piped into the public meeting area after the board had reassembled in an adjoining room.
Privately, commissioners told Giani of their dissatisfaction with her reporting to Gov. Gary Herbert, who in effect has been running the department, rather than the citizen liquor board.
Giani shot back that she has given commissioners more information than former executive director Dennis Kellen ever had, according to notes compiled by The Tribune of the discussion.
Liquor-control commission chairman Richard Sperry told Giani that she must also report to the board "so we can govern."
Giani retorted that the board had governed in the past "by whatever Kellen told you."
The governor had asked Kellen to step down in July after it was disclosed that the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control had done more than $456,000 worth of business with a company owned by Kellen's son.
Herbert called the transactions in the state-run liquor system potentially "serious violations" of state procurement law. An audit of the arrangement is expected to be released in October.
Media attorney Jeff Hunt said agencies may close meetings to discuss the character or competence of an individual, but discussing who Giani reports to is a policy question not covered under the statute.
Legislative auditors have also criticized the board for conducting closed meetings. Last year, auditors said commissioners — relying on advice from the Attorney General's Office — repeatedly violated the state's open-meetings laws.
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