Dear Editor:
I am a Shoshoni resident and a former town council member.
In June of 2024, I made a presentation to the Shoshoni Town Council regarding approximately 20 potentially illegal executive sessions that were held to discuss “real estate."
Several news media outlets featured coverage of that town council meeting. Some of them also called the executive sessions into question.
The town council seems to have gotten the message as subsequent discussions involving real estate have been during open session.
At the July 8, 2025 meeting, the Shoshoni Town Council discussed an offer made to purchase a piece of town property.
The offer came through a real estate agent the council had “fired” seven months prior. Let’s just say the transaction looked suspect.
The town attorney advised the council of the legal requirements for real estate agents. He also told the council they would have to go into executive session if they wanted to get into “legal matters."
State law requires a reason be given when calling for an executive session. The issue didn’t meet the legal requirements for “real estate," and frankly any further discussion should have been in public.
Instead, Mayor Joel Highsmith advised the council that state statute has a provision to go into executive session to discuss “potential litigation."
A motion was made, seconded, and unanimously passed to go into executive session for said “potential litigation.”
I think the council was poorly advised by the mayor, and by their lawyer. There is no provision in state law allowing for an executive session for “potential” litigation.
Per WY Stat § 16-4-405 (iii), an executive session may be held, “On matters concerning litigation to which the governing body is a party or proposed litigation to which the governing body may be a party.”
In a legal context, "proposed litigation" refers to a future legal action that has not yet been filed in a court of law.
“Proposing litigation” is the act of making a suggestion, declaration, proposition, or plan to sue another party. In this case, did the buyer or the realtor indicate the intent to sue Shoshoni? Nope.
Is Shoshoni planning to sue the buyer or the realtor? I think not. With no ongoing, or “proposed litigation," the executive session was in violation of WY Stat § 16-4-405.
I doubt Shoshoni is the only town or city in Wyoming with this type of problem.
I also doubt there is a place in this state where defiance of the Open Meetings Act (and other statutes) is more pronounced than in Shoshoni. Accountability laws for government officials are woefully inadequate in our state.
The only sure fire way to hold officials accountable is at the voting polls. I encourage your readers to watch your government in action, and to vote appropriately.
Sincerely,
Ronald W. Ankeny
