Topeka ? A team appointed by Gov.-elect Kathleen Sebelius to review public safety agencies planned its first meeting, and its chairman said he wanted the discussions to be open.

Sebelius and her aides suggested last week that some meetings of the five government review teams she’s appointed would be closed, when those teams discuss what recommendations they’ll make to her.

But Sen. David Adkins, R-Leawood, leader of the Democratic governor elect’s team on public safety agencies, said he wanted its meetings to be open because “we’re going to be talking about the people’s business.”

His team was scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. today. Meetings for the four other teams have not been announced.

Sebelius is setting up her administration as the state grapples with financial problems. State officials and university economists have projected a $310 million deficit on June 30 from the current, $4.4 billion budget and have estimated the gap between expected revenues and spending commitments to be another $858 million for fiscal year 2004.

Sebelius and outgoing Gov. Bill Graves, a Republican, have yet to decide how to prevent the deficit in the current budget. Graves has said he hoped they would draft a joint plan, but Sebelius continued Tuesday to insist that she was focused on preparing a fiscal 2004 budget.

“He will make the changes he sees fit for ’03,” Sebelius spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran-Basso said of Graves.

During her gubernatorial campaign, Sebelius promised a top-to-bottom review of state government as a way to make it more efficient. The review was her answer to questions about how she’d handle the state’s budget problems and whether she would increase taxes.

She announced the appointment of her five teams last week and said they would have discussions in private so that team members could be more frank.

But Adkins told radio’s Mid-America News Network in Wichita: “My hope is that the deliberations and considerations of the team that I’m heading will be open to public scrutiny and public participation.”

Asked about Adkins’ statements, Corcoran-Basso said Sebelius planned to leave questions about how meetings are run to team leaders.