A meeting by any other name . . .

To say that the people watching the Dale County Commission unanimously pass a resolution realigning the duties of the chairman—with absolutely no prior public discussion at all and at the same meeting during which it was first introduced—were left shaking their heads is the truth.

To say that the “Dueling Banjos” chords were heard softly playing in the background might be an exaggeration. It was perhaps, more accurately, the sound of the Open Meetings door slamming shut.

The Open Meetings Act was enacted in 2005 as a legal requirement that city councils, county commissions and school boards, among other governmental agencies, notify the public of their meetings and to conduct their meetings in public.

In 2015 a law clarifying and adding teeth to the original intent of the 2005 act was signed into law.

Taxpayers, shareholders, citizens have the right to know how and why their dollars are being used. They might not agree with the decisions made, but people do have the right to hear the reasoning and discussion that went in to making them. It is called transparency.

I would say, right up front, that most governing bodies that this newspaper covers in a two-county area are cognizant of their responsibility as public servants. Most governing bodies that this newspaper covers in a two-county area also have working sessions where agenda items are hashed out, mulled over, discussed and argued about.

No votes can be taken in a working session but working sessions are open to the public, as are the more formal business sessions that follow.

That is what made the actions of the Dale County Commission at the meeting July 24 so astonishing to observers.

With no fanfare, no prior discussion, the Dale County Attorney Henry Steagall began to read a pre-drafted resolution aloud. There were copies of the pre-drafted-without-public-discussion resolution available and a copy was displayed for others in the room on an audio visual screen.

The resolution was to re-align the duties of the chairman but that is absolutely not the point being addressed on this page.

After the attorney read the resolution, he turned the meeting over to the chairman, noting that the chairman had some remarks about the resolution that had just been read in a public meeting for the first time.

The chairman said—in the public work session— that he had been informed of the commission’s decision to introduce the proposed resolution the week before by the county’s longest serving commissioner and the county attorney.

When given the opportunity at the public work session July 24, there were no comments from any of the commissioners who instead just silently stared at the table in front of them.

There were three questions from the “audience.” One citizen questioned the specifics of some of the chairman’s remarks, which he addressed.

The other two questions were from media representatives who asked for a history of this resolution.

When asked what initiated the resolution and why there was no public discussion prior to it being introduced and preprinted resolution the attorney replied that was being discussed right then.

No. It was not being discussed right then. A pre-printed was read aloud. Period.

In fact, magically the resolution had unanimous commission agreement without any public discussion.

A meeting is defined as any “congregation by a majority” of a legislative body at the same time and place to “hear, discuss, or deliberate” on any matter within the jurisdiction of the body.

The 2015 Open Meetings law states that meetings in small groups—defined as two or more people but not enough for a full quorum—without proper notice to discuss issues that will come before the full body are against the law.

Those small group meetings are sometimes called “serial meetings” and are said to have occurred when communication to “develop a collective concurrence as to action” is conducted either in person, by telephone, fax, email or “go-betweens.” 

Serial meetings are said to have occurred when members of a board or committee meet in small groups to discuss issues that later come before the full board or committee for an official vote. The new law applies to committees and subcommittees of public boards, as well as full boards.

For each violation of the act, each official can be fined $1,000 or half of their governmental salary, whichever is less.

Was it magic that a resolution was initiated, devised and unanimously agreed upon without a covert meeting between the commissioners?

Was the law it violated accidental? Where was the commission’s attorney? Accidently, I think not. And, in fact, the commission attorney was the person who read the never-discussed-in-a-public meeting, pre-printed resolution.

The law acknowledges that under specifically named circumstances, boards can go into closed meetings, also known as “executive sessions.”

Boards can—and do—close their meetings to the public to discuss the “good name and character” of an employee or pending litigation with their attorney, to name a few of the allowable reasons.

We kept waiting for “executive session” to be offered as a semi-logical explanation of what had apparently magically happened. It was not.

Government should be open, transparent and accountable in its business operations. Serial meetings take the discussion process out of the public eye.

Clearly, having a law governing meetings is not to say that serial meetings don’t ever occur. It does mean that when they do occur, the law is being broken.

Seek truth and report it. Minimize harm. Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived. Be accountable and transparent. That’s the short version of what journalists are charged with doing every day according to the Society of Professional Journalists’ code of ethics.

“Public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy,” reads the code’s preamble. “Ethical journalism strives to ensure that the free exchange of information is accurate, fair and thorough.”

At The Southeast Sun and Daleville Sun Courier, we take responsibility for the accuracy of each article we write. We put our names and our email addresses on each article we write. There is not much hiding when your face graces each opinion column you write.

We are charged with keeping citizens aware of what is happening and that responsibility we take seriously.

Michelle Mann is a staff writer for The Southeast Sun and Daleville Sun-Courier. The opinions of this writer are her own and not the opinion of the paper. She can be reached at (334) 393-2969 or by email at mmann@southeastsun.com.