Originally, however, it wasn't.

Until a late change was made Friday afternoon, the conference was "invitation only" and closed to members of the public and media, said Alan Parks, the council's Homer Outreach Coordinator.

The council decided to close the event in order to ensure its invited guests, which include Homer Mayor James Hornaday, members of the Kenai Peninsula Borough assembly and official representatives from Sitka, Cordova, Kodiak, Dillingham, Petersburg and Gustavus, "are able to speak freely and openly with each other," said Parks.

The goal of the conference, said Parks and council communications director Celeste Novak, is for the invitees to receive climate change information from a panel of environmental leaders, including Bob Shavelson from Cook Inletkeeper, Deborah Williams from Alaska Conservation Solutions and Chris Rose from Renewable Energy Alaska Project, and to form an agreement they could then take to state and federal officials.

"The intent is that these folks can work together and come back with a compact for their communities," said Novak before Friday's decision to open the conference to the public. "We will not be inviting media."

Several of the conference's invitees, including Hornaday and borough assembly member Milli Martin, said they had no idea the event was originally meant to be closed to the public.

"I'm very surprised," said Hornaday when told of the council's initial plan. "Isn't the whole idea to get the public behind what they're doing?"

Homer City Manager Walt Wrede, who had promised to donate $1,000 in city funds to help put on the event, was also unaware of the council's plan.

"I thought they were asking all the communities to contribute and it was open to the public," he said. "I must have misunderstood."

Wrede said it would have been inappropriate to contribute money to an event that was closed to the public and, had he known, he would not have promised the funds.

If more than three members of the Homer city council or the borough assembly were to attend a closed-door meeting, agreed Wrede and Hornaday, that would likely be a violation of the state's Open Meetings Act, which forbids, with few exceptions, more than three members of any governmental body from meeting out of the public eye and without providing public notice.

The conference will run from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. In addition to Shavelson, Williams and Rose, featured speakers will include Peter Larson from the Nature Conservancy and Dr. John Lemons, a University of New England professor who is the author of seven books, including "Sustainable Development: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy."

Shavelson said his remarks would focus on the Chuitna coal project and the state's responsibility to address climate change.

"Right now at the state level, there's no serious discussion on how we can reduce our carbon footprint," he said. "We have to have a serious discussion about mitigation. We really have to put the lid on coal and look seriously at oil and gas development."

Aaron Selbig can be reached at aaron.selbig@homernews.com.