Fayette County commissioners were caught red-handed, but not by an investigative reporter or federal agent: they caught themselves.

"We all agreed let's just 'fess up. We blew it," Commissioner Greg Dunn said this week after issuing a press release admitting that the County Commission improperly discussed public business during a closed meeting last week.

"It was really stupid," Dunn said. "But I give great credit to the board, because not one of them wanted to shirk away from it."

Dunn said he was uncomfortable when discussions about the county's merit pay system popped up during the executive session following last Thursday's open session, but he wasn't sure whether talking about the matter was legal until he asked county attorney Bill McNally for a ruling.

"He said, 'You guys have done it this time,'" Dunn said. " 'You blew it.'"

Commissioners were talking about the performance of individual employees, which is allowed during executive session, but the discussion drifted, Dunn said. "We just launched into a discussion about merit pay and how everybody's getting the 5 percent merit raise every year and merit pay has turned into a COLA [cost of living adjustment]," he said.

Discussions concerning general employee benefits must be conducted in open session, according to Georgia's open meetings laws. The law allows discussion of "personnel" matters, but those are limited to matters involving individuals.

"Nobody intended to do it. We must've had our heads up our collective butts," said Dunn.

After thinking about it the next day, Dunn talked to the other commissioners. "I talked to Herb [Frady] and said I'm not comfortable with what we talked about, and he said he wasn't either, so I called Bill McNally."

Once he had talked to all the other commissioners, Dunn said, "The question became what to do about it." The group could have waited until next Wednesday's work session to make a public announcement about the error, but decided that would be too long to wait, said Dunn.