Wichita ? Members of the public were not allowed to attend the City Council meeting at which a new city manager was hired this week, according to a report in The Wichita Eagle.

“It certainly wasn’t an intentional mistake,” said Police Chief Norman Williams. “We’re making darn sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Prior to Tuesday night’s hastily called session, city spokeswoman LaTricia Harper called The Eagle for the names of reporters and photographers who would attend. She also told the newspaper that members of the public would be allowed.

But an Eagle employee who was sent to the session to try to get in as a private citizen was turned away by police, who told her it was open only to the media. Harper said The Eagle employee was the only person who tried to get in and was turned away.

Mike Merriam, staff counsel for the Kansas Press Association, said the city’s action in denying access “seems like a pretty obvious violation of the Open Meetings Act.”

City officials blamed a misunderstanding of new security rules designed to track whoever goes in and out of City Hall at night. Williams called it “just one of those unfortunate mistakes.”

The new rules, which took effect May 3, require people who organize after-hours nonpublic meetings to give building security a list of those who will attend. And all people attending private or public meetings at City Hall must sign in and show identification.

“The whole idea of security these days seems to take precedence over everything else,” he said. “They may or may not be able to require some kind of identification, but they couldn’t use that as an excuse to keep people out of a public meeting.”

Council members Bob Martz and Sharon Fearey said they both specifically told staff members to make sure the public had access to the meeting, at which the council took a formal vote to offer the city manager’s job to George Kolb, manager of the city-county government in Augusta, Ga.

Martz said there is a need to maintain security and said the problem Tuesday night was a “glitch” that can be fixed easily.

But Fearey, who opposed the new rules, said “I don’t worry about security like my fellow council members do. If we cannot use this building to meet the needs of the citizens, I think it’s time we all go home.”

A new state law extends from 10 to 30 days the time during which prosecutors can seek to overturn actions taken at an illegally held meeting.