DES MOINES - Two state officials announced Tuesday they are working in partnership to improve compliance with Iowa's open meetings and open records law at the local government level.

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and William Angrick, the state's citizen's aide/ombudsman, said their joint enhanced enforcement effort already has resolved complaints of alleged violations in Ida Grove, Pacific Junction and Winfield.

Miller and Angrick said they have agreed to a protocol where the ombudsman's office will process and investigate most complaints about violations of the state's open meetings/public records laws and, when appropriate, refer certain cases to Miller's office for further review.

"We're back in the business of enforcing the law of public records and public meetings in even the smallest of towns in Iowa," the attorney general told reporters.

Miller said he has appointed John McCormally, an assistant attorney general, to coordinate open government enforcement efforts, and he has reached out to media groups and others to help by report violations.

"In the past we have taken the position that cases are best resolved informally at the local level," Miller said. "We still believe that most cases can be resolved that way, but we want to serve notice that we plan to bring legal actions in the future when we think they are warranted."

Bill Monroe of the Iowa Newspaper Association commended the stepped-up enforcement effort at the local government level. But he said an independent enforcement agency still is needed to deal with state government violations where Miller has a conflict of interest and Angrick has no enforcement powers.

"While this can be seen as a positive, interim step, it doesn't solve the problem," Monroe said. "The problem will only be solved when an independent entity is created that has no conflict of interest and will have the ability to enforce the open records/open meetings law.

Angrick, whose office received about 275 complaints and information requests about public records and open meetings in 2008, said he is encouraged by the new enforcement effort, but he plans to seek legislative action next session to name an administrative law judge with independent enforcement authority for violations at the state and local government levels.

Earlier this month, top legislative Democrats said they expect to take steps to enhance the enforcement of Iowa's open meetings and open records law but the approach has been scaled back considerably since last session.

The Senate voted last spring to create an independent enforcement arm to oversee government boards and agencies and put new teeth in the three-decades-old state laws providing public access to documents and meetings. However, the measure failed to garner House passage.

House Speaker Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque, said he expected the House to revisit the issue with an eye on establishing some of the enforcement mechanisms envisioned in last year's legislation within the Iowa Attorney General's Office as a way to "put some teeth" in Iowa's "sunshine" laws.

Senate File 2411 proposed to establish an executive-branch agency, modeled after the state's Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, which would help mediate disputes involving alleged open meetings and open records violations by state or local government entities; investigate instances where probable cause of a violation occurred with the help of subpoena powers; and levy civil fines ranging from $1,000 to $2,500 for founded violations. The bill would remove criminal penalties for violations of Iowa's sunshine laws.

Monroe said openness advocates will continue to press for that approach during the 2009 legislative session.

Contact Rod Boshart at (515) 243-7220 or rod.boshart@gazcomm.com.