An Iowa judge hast ordered three Harrison County officials to each purchase a $2 “Open Meetings, Open Records” handbook from the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, in lieu of paying a $100 fine for violating state open-meeting laws. The Daily NonPareil reports Judge James M. Richardson ruled earlier this month, that Supervisors Robert Smith, Walter Ultman and Gaylord Pitt had violated the open-meetings law during a meeting held Nov. 7th, by going into a closed session as trustees of the Ultman Drainage District. The ruling came after the Judge reviewed video footage of two meetings, the other of which was held Nov. 14th. The supervisors were initially fined $100 each, but court documents show those fines were later suspended.

The board had been involved in a lawsuit over a court order to fix the Utman Levee, an aging structure near Modale. In February, the supervisors unanimously voted to repair a 200-foot gap in the levee. According to the paper, the supervisors said the closed sessions were within the law because they were held under a section of Iowa Code that deals with the handling of matters in litigation or where litigation is imminent, and the disclosure of such information would be prejudicial, or put a governmental body at a disadvantage the position of the governmental body during litigation.