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Homeowner to Gaming Board: let me speak
By Ed Goppelt
Sunday, 06/25/06
(1151267487982)
A Philadelphia homeowner has invoked his right to address the Gaming Board at its next public meeting. "Please let me know by 5:00 pm, June 26, 2006, how the Board intends to meet its legal responsibility to provide the public with an opportunity to comment at its public meetings," wrote Jethro Heiko in a letter to Gaming Board Chairman Tad Decker. Heiko and his wife live in Fishtown, a block away from one of three casinos proposed for their neighborhood.
Heiko's decision to assert his rights under the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act comes at a critical time for the Board. According to Decker, the Board must either pass supplier regulations at its next meeting on June 28 or risk delaying the implementation of slots by a year or more. If the Board declines to honor Heiko's right to speak, Heiko, 33, could ask a court to invalidate all business conducted at this Wednesday's meeting of the Board.
The Sunshine Act requires government agencies to "provide a reasonable opportunity" for members of the public to speak at public meetings. While the Gaming Board must allow the public to speak, it can set rules governing the how and the when of public comment. For example, residents of Allegheny County who wish to address a Council meeting must complete this registration form by 4:00 pm the day preceding the meeting.
Although the Gaming Board has held 31 public meetings since December 14, 2004, no resident affected by one of the proposed casinos has spoken at a Board meeting. Both the New Jersey Casino Control Commission and the Nevada Gaming Commission and State Gaming Control Board allow the public to speak at their meetings.
The Gaming Board has recently been touting the success of its "public input" hearings held at locations across the state. "Act 71 did not require the Gaming Control Board to hold these hearings, but from the day we began work, we knew that the people of Pennsylvania deserved to have a public-input component in the process," said Decker in a recent press release.
At the hearings residents were required to register a month ahead of time with no guarantee of being heard and were forbidden to use "contumacious" (legalease for rebellious) language. Members of the public were permitted to address the Board for 3 minutes while casino operators, whose applications spoke for themselves, had 60 minutes to make their case and got both the first and last words.
"Information gathered at the hearings will become part of the formal record the Board considers when deciding which proposed facilities to license," wrote the Board in a March press release. "The Gaming Control Board is completely committed to having a licensing process that is open and transparent to the public, and public input is critical to the process," said Executive Director Anne LaCour Neeb in the same press release.
More than 2 months later, the Board has yet to share the formal evidentiary record with the people who paid for its creation: Pennsylvanians. According to spokesman Nick Hays, transcripts --which in Hallwatch's experience typically take 7-10 days to produce--will be made available as soon as the Board finishes "compiling" the record. Hays declined to specify a date.
June 23, 2006
Mr. Tad Decker
Chairman
Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board
303 Walnut Street
Harrisburg, PA 17101
Re: Opportunity for public to comment at Gaming Board meetings
Dear Mr. Decker:
I am invoking my right under the Sunshine Act [1] (the Act) to address the Board at its next public meeting June 28, 2006. Please let me know what procedure I should follow in order to be heard at this important meeting. The Board’s regulations are silent on this point.
The Act requires the Gaming Board to “provide a reasonable opportunity” at public meetings for Pennsylvanians “to comment on matters, official actions or deliberations which are or may be before the Board prior to taking any official action [2].” The term “official action” is defined to include “a vote on any proposal, resolution, rule, regulation, ordinance, report or order [3].”
The Act also states “any person has the right to raise an objection at any time to a perceived violation of this chapter at any meeting [4].” Please let me know by 5:00 pm, June 26, 2006, how the Board intends to meet its legal responsibility to provide the public with an opportunity to comment at its public meetings.
Thank you for considering this request for information about the Board’s procedures concerning public comment.
Sincerely,
Jethro Heiko
1. According to the Gaming Act, the Board's proceedings are subject to the Sunshine Act. See 4 Pa.C.S.A. Sec. 1206(a).
2. 65 PA.C.S.A. Sec. 710.1(a).
4. 65 PA.C.S.A. Sec. 710.1(c).
Contact Jethro Heiko at jethro @ actionmill.com