Illegal meetings held by Danville commission, court says; and by Murray regents, attorney general says

"Two rulings came this week — one in circuit court, one by the attorney general — that public agencies have violated the state’s open meetings law," David Thompson writes in his weekly missive as executive director of the Kentucky Press Association.

"In Boyle Circuit Court, a judge ruled Thursday that the Danville City Commission held an illegal session and in the much-publicized Murray State University situation, an AG’s ruling on Wednesday said the Board of Regents violated the law by discussing the MSU president’s situation the night before the board’s official meeting."

Thompson's post has a short story from Todd Kleffman of The Advocate-Messenger and draws from a story in The Paducah Sun distributed by The Associated Press. To read it, click here.

Perry judge-executive acknowledges fiscal court sometimes ignores Open Meetings Act

The Perry County Fiscal Court has acknowledged violating the Kentucky Open Meetings Act by conducting unannounced meetings because, in the words of Judge-Executive Danny Ray Noble, it is for the good of the county.

“Sometimes we do break the Sunshine Law because we have to,” said Noble at the fiscal court meeting in Hazard Wednesday, according to a story in the Hazard Herald.

The Herald story reported Noble said during the meeting Wednesday that the court would meet with an engineer later in the day outside the official meeting, with a quorum present, to discuss water issues in the county. He noted that the engineer was unable to make the meeting Wednesday morning.

Noble said the court sometimes holds unannounced meetings so magistrates can discuss issues and agree on action before a vote is taken during a regular meeting. He said that he believes this makes them more efficient in public meetings.

The open meetings law, enacted in 1974 and amended in 1992, requires that the "the formation of public policy is public business and shall not be conducted in secret."

The law requires that regular meetings must be scheduled at specified times and places which are convenient to the public, and that notice must be given of regularly scheduled meetings and of special meetings not on the regular schedule, which must be adopted and published.

The law forbids elected officials from meeting secretly unless the legislative body first meets publicly, votes to go into closed session by defining the nature of the discussion, and cites a specific exception in the law that allows a closed session. Typically, the most cited exceptions involve specified personnel issues, a threatened or actual lawsuit or the purchase or sale of property. No votes can be taken in a closed session.

Meeting privately to come to predetermined decisions deprives the public of the debate on important policy matters, an abridgment of citizens' role in a democracy. The Kentucky Supreme Court in 1997 ruled that “The express purpose of the Open Meetings Act is to maximize notice of public meetings and actions.”

Citizens who believe a public agency has violated the open meetings law may file a complaint with the presiding officer outlining the perceived violation and suggesting a corrective course. If the agency denies the complaint, citizens can file the complaint with the Kentucky attorney general, whose ruling has the force of law until appealed to circuit court.

Read the Herald story here. In an editorial, the weekly newspaper called for a halt to the practice, saying the fiscal court was "doing the residents of Perry County a great disservice."

Kentucky State University joint regent committees failed to follow provisions of Open Meetings Act

The attorney general's office has upheld an appeal by The State Journal of Frankfort and reporter Katheran Wasson that committees of the Kentucky State University Board of Regents violated the state Open Meetings Act earlier this year.

The Finance and Administration Committee and the Audit Committee jointly held a closed session meeting on Jan. 27 to discuss an external audit. Before entering the closed session, the committee failed to pass a formal motion to go into closed session and cite the reason for the session, as required by the act.

Wasson submitted a written complaint describing the violations to the presiding officer of the meeting, Charles Whitehead. In her complaint, she requested that the full board acknowledge, in writing, that the closed committee session violated the law. She also requested that “members of the Finance and Administration and Audit Committees make public any notes, minutes or recordings taken during the closed session," and if no such records were created, Whitehead" make a public, written statement of what transpired during the closed session and what was discussed in detail." Finally, Wasson asked that the board "vow, in writing, to never meet in closed session again without citing a specific statute and taking a formal vote" and that a written statement to this effect "be shared with all members, in case they ever find themselves serving as chairperson of a committee or presiding over a meeting."

Under state law, [KRS 61.815(1)(b)] the following are required as conditions for conducting closed sessions: Notice must be given in an open meeting of the general nature of the business to be discussed in closed session, the reason for the closed session, and the specific exception authorizing the closed session; closed sessions may be held only after a motion is made and carried by a majority vote in open, public session; no final action may be taken at a closed session; and no matters may be discussed at a closed session other than those publicly announced prior to convening the closed session.

According to Wasson's transcript of her recording of the meeting, Whitehead said, "I’d like to take this committee into closed session so that, so that, so that – I usually do this, just to hear from the auditors, just so that they can say anything that they might want to say. Can we do that?" Wasson said one committee member then looked at Lori Davis, the university’s general counsel, who approved.

Regents Chairwoman Laura Douglas denied the meeting was illegal and rejected Wasson's remedial steps, saying the committee closed the meeting under an exception that allows closed discussion of on threats to public safety. Attorney General Jack Conway ruled that the exception was clearly inapplicable and the meeting was illegal.