SALT LAKE CITY — On March 26, an employee of a state agency sent an email to Box Elder County commissioners.
“Thank you for your time both yesterday and today,” the email said. “I look forward to continuing the discussion.”
The sender was an employee with the Military Installation Development Authority, or MIDA, which is backing a massive data center project in Box Elder County. A spokeswoman for the county confirmed to FOX 13 News that in those March 25 and 26 meetings, commissioners first learned details of the massive Stratos Project that investor Kevin O’Leary wants to build.
But there was no public notice before either meeting, according to a review of documents by FOX 13 News. And neither MIDA nor Box Elder County provided any minutes or other records from the two meetings.
“It's in my reading of the open meetings act,” said Joel Campbell, a retired Brigham Young University journalism professor who helped Utah legislators write the Utah Open and Public Meetings Act, “if you have three county commissioners meeting talking about public business that has potential to involve the public, you need to notice it up.”
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The act says public bodies must provide notice of a meeting “not less than” 24 hours in advance.
“None of that happened,” Campbell said, “and so that raises concerns in my book about whether or not they're following the open meetings act.”
Lynette Crockett, a spokeswoman for Box Elder County, confirmed the March 25 and 26 meetings. In an email to FOX 13 News, Crockett described both as informational meetings where commissioners learned about the data center proposal.
“No decisions were made,” Crockett wrote.
Receiving information
The Open Meetings Act doesn’t require a vote. It defines a meeting as “a gathering… of a public body… with a quorum present,” meaning – in this case – at least two of the three commissioners.
The meeting definition includes instances where the body will “receive public comment about a relevant matter.”
The Stratos Project is relevant to Brenna Williams, lead liaison of Box Elder Accountability Referendum, or BEAR. The group is pushing to give county voters a say on whether the data center is built.
“I think we should have known from the very beginning,” Williams told FOX 13 on Wednesday, “that it was even a possibility so that we could have gotten our voices heard.”
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Crockett, in emails to FOX 13 News, said the March 25 meeting “was simply an introductory briefing intended to provide the commissioners with their first overview of a potential development proposal and the process that could follow.”
“No commitments were discussed,” Crockett added, “and the commissioners were not deliberating the merits of the project or considering any future County actions….
“Any discussion regarding the project's merits, potential approvals, or actions by the County all occurred through the normal public meeting process, where those matters were openly discussed and considered.
“The commissioners also used the meeting to express their frustration with how the proposal was brought to the County. They made it clear that they were disappointed to learn that discussions involving state officials, property owners, and other stakeholders had been occurring for months before the County Commission was provided even a basic introduction to the project.”
As for the March 26 meeting, Crockett said Commissioners Lee Perry and Boyd Bigham were invited to the family property of a landowner in the Hansel Valley, where the project is proposed. [ST3] MIDA staff attended, too, records show.
“The meeting provided an opportunity for the Commissioners to hear directly from property owners and project representatives,” Crockett wrote, “and to gather additional information regarding the proposed development and the interests of participating landowners.”
No penalty
FOX 13 recently received 700 pages from MIDA related to Stratos, including emails. The emails show MIDA staff were trying to schedule more follow-up meetings with Box Elder County commissioners through March and after the first public hearings in April.
“During that meeting, we can finalize the talking points for the Commissioner meeting and discuss preparation of the interlocal agreement,” the MIDA employee writes.
The interlocal agreement refers to a resolution Box Elder County commissioners passed in May. It was a step moving the Stratos Project forward.
If Box Elder County commissioners did violate the open meetings act, Campbell doesn’t see a legal remedy.
There are no votes to undo. And there’s no penalty under Utah law.
“I would love for the attorney general to maybe write a letter of reprimand or something,” Campbell said, “but I'm not sure what's going to happen in that case.”