Wichita ? The district attorney’s office said Thursday that the city of Wichita appears to have simply made a mistake in closing public access to a City Council meeting Tuesday night and no legal action is planned.

But a Wichita state senator said he plans to ask the attorney general for an opinion on whether the city violated the state’s open-meeting law and whether its new after-hours security rules are legal.

At issue is a special meeting Tuesday evening at which City Council members announced they were offering the job of city manager to George Kolb, a city-county executive in Augusta, Ga.

A Wichita Eagle employee who was sent to try to enter the meeting as a private citizen was turned away at the door by police, who were acting under building security rules the city implemented May 3.

City officials have said it was simply a mistake because the officers thought the meeting was open to the media only and had not been informed that all members of the public should be allowed to attend.

Deputy District Attorney Kim Parker said her inquiries into the situation supported the city’s contention that it was an honest error.

She said it appeared there was a “lack of proper communication,” but officers were simply following the new security policy as they understood it.

The Kansas Open Meetings Act requires proof of intent for a violation to occur, Parker said.

“It does not appear there is anything (showing) that there was a knowing violation or intentional failure” to allow public access, she said.

She said she didn’t see any attempt to try to hide city business because the media was allowed to attend the meeting.

City spokeswoman LaTricia Harper said: “We’re very pleased with the DA’s decision. We’ve apologized emphatically and continuously for that situation occurring.”

Sen. Henry Helgerson, D-Wichita, said the situation should not have occurred because the city had plenty of warning that it needed to ensure public access to city meetings.

Local lawmakers who learned of the city’s security plan considered introducing a bill during the recently concluded legislative session to protect public access to meetings in Wichita.

Helgerson said legislators did not act because city officials told them information provided to legislators about the new plan was incorrect “and they weren’t going to do anything like this,” he said.

“There has been a pattern of problems at the city of Wichita. I think it’s time we look at further censures.”

The council’s compliance with open-meeting law has been an issue since April 1, 2003, when the council voted in its office lobby to create a severance package for then-City Manager Chris Cherches.

The city admitted a technical violation of the state meeting law for moving the meeting from the council chambers without proper notice to the public. It agreed to an injunction against violating the law again.

Helgerson said he is drafting a request for an attorney general’s opinion on whether it is legal to require identification to attend public meetings.

If it is, he said, he will bring that up for review in next year’s legislative session.