The Tombstone officials, including the mayor, city clerk, city attorney and town marshal, say the decision is related to a 'technical difficulty' that is in the past.

The trouble began at a council meeting last October when Mike Carrafa, the owner of Six Gun City and a frequent critic of the council and mayor, was ejected after questioning the mayor's business interests during the open forum section of the meeting.

Mayor Dusty Escapule objected, and ordered Marshal Larry Talvy to take Carrafa out of Schieffelin Hall. A video of the conference was sent to the county attorney who started the inquiry into whether town officials followed the letter of the open meetings law.

Escapule, City Attorney Randal Bays, City Clerk Brenda Ikirt and others must attend open meeting law training. City officials would not comment on when, or even whether, they will attend such training, only saying they would write the county attorney a letter with their response to the order.

Asked after their meeting on Tuesday about the letter and the city's response, Escapule said the city has rectified the violations and is ready to put it in the past.

Bays agreed, saying that he felt as though there was never an issue to begin with.
Despite the city's optimism, the County Attorney's office doesn't seem to have dropped the issue.

"I haven't heard a peep from Tombstone," said Britt W. Hanson, chief civil deputy. He added that the County would follow up on the matter.

Some in town are feeling satisfied in the aftermath of the October incident.

"This city has a history of abusing peoples' rights," said Carrafa. "They're starting to see that [Mayor Escapule] does things however he wants."

Marshal Larry Talvy has reservations about the investigation.

"[The Council has] a right to control the meetings," Talvy said. "I don't think the County Attorney's office made a good decision." Talvy went on to say that he was surprised by the County Attorney's findings, and that he felt that the letter from Hanson was too public, and too personal.

"I think that the county attorneys made it appear as if we were doing personal attacks on Mr. Carrafa because of what he said," Talvy said. "That's why ... I wish they hadn't made it so personal."

Hanson says that Talvy's concerns are incorrect, and that Tombstone's violation of the Arizona OML is "a public matter anyway."

The County Attorney's investigation also uncovered another violation on behalf of the city – a failure to post their agendas and meeting notices online.

According to Arizona law, all public bodies must post an agenda in public at least 24 hours before holding a meeting. Normally this would mean posting in public places – city hall, post offices, etc. However, for those bodies with an official Web site, like Tombstone, they also must post their agenda online.

Since the letter from the County Attorney, Tombstone has worked to post their agendas on their Web site, www.cityoftombstone.com, however the links to the agendas only work on computers using Internet Explorer.

David Cuillier, a journalism professor at the University of Arizona, is an expert on open meeting laws and the relationship between the public and governing bodies. He feels that being proactive on keeping the public in touch with their government is the least a city can do.

"If you want to know what's going on in your town and you want to be warned of something that may affect you, it needs to be out there," Cuillier said. "A town council can make important decisions that affect everyday people and if they don't post that online so people can see what they're going to talk about then people will be left in the dark and caught off guard and they'll be mad. They'll be mad at the government, at their community and that doesn't help anybody."