Looks like our government is a step closer to completing a deal with Dow Chemical regarding the South Charleston Technology Park.

The state Senate passed a measure Thursday that would move the higher education boards to the park, where the state hopes to turn hundreds of acres into a research facility. Dow Chemical, which owns the property, has wanted to find a new owner or close the park and begin tearing down the buildings.

The bill now goes to the House of Delegates for consideration.

That news is easy for us to report to you. It happened during the legislative session, which is always open to the public and the media. We wish we could say the same for a piece of related news that unfolded this week.

Instead, Tuesday’s tech park meeting between Gov. Joe Manchin and state and South Charleston officials was off limits. It should not have been.

Manchin called a meeting of all the stakeholders, in hope of completing a deal where the tech park would be transferred to the state of West Virginia. It was a meeting that could have answered many important questions for taxpayers. For instance, how much would it cost the state to maintain the property and create the research park Manchin has in mind?

Instead of finding answers and sharing them with taxpayers, reporters — along with members of the general public — were turned away from Tuesday’s meeting, which took place behind security gates.

That immediately raised red flags.

Our state and nation have very specific open meetings laws designed not only to inform the public, but to protect the public from corrupt government.

Our state has an open meetings law because, just as it states, “The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments of government they have created.”

It is the duty of the press to inform the people.

Those who met Tuesday were clearly in violation of state law. Closed-door meetings may sometimes be necessary for a few limited reasons, but those holding them are required by law to do so in executive session. That does not appear to be the case here.

We can’t help but question what was said behind that closed door, especially considering that it likely concerned taxpayer money.

Manchin, on the other hand, brushed off the closed meeting as nothing more than a way to get more business done: “You are all wonderful, but sometimes you can be intimidating,” Manchin said to the media in a Charleston Gazette article.

Intimidating? Why would anyone be so afraid of a group of people whose intent is merely to fairly and accurately inform the public?

Perhaps our public officials need a refresher course in First Amendment law. And perhaps, as the media, we should pay particular attention to this tech park deal as it continues unfolding. Tuesday’s red flag is just too hard to ignore.