But the meeting was to be held in St. George, a city more than 240 miles to the south, making it nearly impossible for the public or news media to easily attend.
The move earned city leaders a ''2004 Black Hole Award'' from a group representing Utah journalists - one of countless public access anecdotes that have helped fuel the upcoming ''Sunshine Week,'' set aside by news organizations nationwide to focus on the importance of open meetings and government records.
The week comes as Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. considers four bills passed during the just-ended Legislature that would tighten or alter access to state documents.
The Utah Headliners chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists also criticized The Salt Lake City Legal Defenders, for seeking to close competency hearings for alleged Elizabeth Smart kidnappers Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee.
Utah media outlets fought and won the right to keep the courts open for those hearings, but journalists say it's just one of many examples of the way governments, the judiciary and other entities are eroding access.
The Government Records Access and Management Act, or GRAMA, has been in place since 1992, but each year the Legislature has tinkered with it, exempting various agencies or certain kinds of records.
''We actually are very concerned. We feel like GRAMA is under attack,'' said Linda Peterson, editor of the Valley Journals, a chain of 18 Salt Lake valley community newspapers. ''Utah law was once a model across the U.S., and every time we turn around it's getting swiped at.''
Among the proposals passed in 2005 is one prohibiting individuals from acting in concert to harass an agency or organization by filing duplicate requests for documents.
Another establishes a task force to review the scope of the law, which some say needs to be reviewed in light of the 2001 terrorist attacks.
''I had been hearing concerns from the judiciary and from law enforcement mostly about concerns their private information could be available and that was a risk to their safety,'' said bill sponsor Rep. Doug Aagard, R-Kaysville.
Aagard says the current records law may allow private companies to access public information, then sell that knowledge to others for a profit. The 12-member task force is charged with reviewing what information is being made public and for what reasons, how information is shared between public entities and whether information can be disseminated to the public electronically.
A review of the law may be appropriate, but Brigham Young University journalism professor and longtime government watchdog Joel Campbell said state lawmakers have generally been poor caretakers of the law.
''I don't see anybody in state government who is an advocate for the public,'' Campbell said. ''And I think the privacy shift started way before 9-11.''
Still, Utah is better off than many states around the country, said Jeff Hunt, an attorney whose firm houses the state's Freedom of Information Hotline and represents news media outlets, including The Associated Press. Hunt says GRAMA's passage 13 years ago was an important victory because it changed the way public entities do business in Utah. Before GRAMA, getting even the simplest of documents could take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Fees were arbitrary and there was no mechanism that held agencies accountable for stalling or denying requests.
''It was a watershed change in the law,'' Hunt said.
More eyebrow-raisers
Also knocked by the Utah Headliners chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for allegedly public-unfriendly actions were:
State lawmakers, who voted in 2004 to ban reporters from access to the floor of House and Senate chambers during the legislative session.
Utah County commissioners, who passed an ordinance requiring one another to disclose any and all conversations with the media related to county business.
Grand County commissioners, who took a lead from Utah County and have required all public employees to review their comments with a county administrator before being allowed to speak to the press.
