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[Note: This material is copyright by the Des Moines Register, and is reproduced here as a matter of "fair use" for non-commercial, educational purposes only. Any other use may require the prior approval of the Des Moines Register.]

Broadlawns Medical Center's board of trustees - which is elected by the county's voters - gave no notice of the gatherings and kept no minutes of what happened during them.

State law generally requires government boards to give formal notice of meetings, to list what will be discussed, and to record what happens.

Frank Harrison, chairman of the hospital's board, said Broadlawns' lawyer told trustees they were not required to follow those rules if the sessions were purely "informational" for board members.

Harrison said the board has held about four such sessions over about two years.

He said the latest was in mid-December, before Broadlawns announced a tentative plan to vacate its location at 1801 Hickman Road and relocate to Iowa Lutheran Hospital.

During the unannounced session, Broadlawns' chief executive officer, Jody Jenner, outlined the plan he had negotiated with leaders of Iowa Health-Des Moines, a company that owns Iowa Lutheran Hospital.

Broadlawns' trustees did not discuss the matter, Harrison said.

Harrison said he did not remember what all the previous "informational" meetings were about, but he defended their occasional use.

"Probably Broadlawns has been as open as any other government agency in the state of Iowa," he said.

The board relied on advice of its attorney, Norene Jacobs, who contends the public need not be told of such sessions because they do not meet the legal definition of meetings.

Jacobs said Iowa courts have ruled elected officials cannot be found guilty of breaking the open meetings law if they avoid deliberating or discussing public matters.

Nevertheless, the arrangement was criticized by a government watchdog who generally supports Broadlawns' leaders.

Jeff Riese, executive director of the Polk-Des Moines Taxpayers Association, said the public should be notified of all meetings of government boards. He noted that boards may privately discuss some matters, such as personnel issues.

But even in those cases, officials must announce beforehand that they are meeting and must indicate what they are discussing, he said. They are also supposed to tape-record such sessions so a judge could review any challenges of the secrecy.

Riese dismissed possible legal arguments that might allow secret, "informational" meetings.

He said he regularly attends public meetings designed to educate public officials about various topics, and he sees no reason why such sessions should be private.

"I would say it's in the taxpayers' best interest to conform to the intent of the law rather than some technical letter of the law," Riese said.

Angela Dalton, a public-records expert for the state ombudsman's office, said that in general, government boards could argue that some gatherings do not amount to official meetings.

"You've got to have deliberation or action - but what's deliberation?" she said.

Broadlawns' board plans to hold public hearings before deciding whether to move ahead with the plan to relocate the hospital to the Iowa Lutheran campus.

The relocation is part of a proposal by Iowa Health-Des Moines to move Iowa Lutheran to a new building in West Des Moines.

INSTITUTE FOR TOMORROW'S WORKFORCE: The state education advisory group violated Iowa law with a closed meeting in July and was ordered by a judge to pay more than $9,000 in attorney fees and court costs. Six media organizations sued, claiming the closed meeting was illegal. Polk County Judge Robert Hanson agreed with the media groups.

STATE BOARD OF REGENTS: The Iowa City Press-Citizen sued the regents last month, alleging the board violated the state's open meetings law during several unannounced closed-session meetings involving the search for a new University of Iowa president. The lawsuit contends the regents met in closed session several times from Nov. 10 to Nov. 17 on matters that are required to be conducted in open session. The regents also provided no public notice of time, date, place or tentative agendas, which Iowa Code requires, the lawsuit argues. The regents deny wrongdoing.

CIETC: The Des Moines Register sued the Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium in September, alleging that the agency's board of directors has repeatedly violated the state's open meetings law. The lawsuit - filed in Polk County District Court - asks that a judge listen to the tape recordings of several closed-door meetings that CIETC board members held between April 7 and Sept. 13. Under Iowa law, if a judge determines that those meetings were illegally closed, the recordings of the sessions could be made public by court order. The board's lawyer contends the meetings were proper.