Are our elected officials any different?

In a little over seven years of reporting the news, I have regularly covered hundreds of public meetings. Very rarely have I seen occasions where elected representatives of the people openly violated Georgia law, whether in letter or spirit.

I stood in the dark foyer of Union City Hall the night of Feb. 21, waiting for the council to wrap up the Executive Session that had been called to address a personnel issue and one involving land acquisition. The foyer area where the public waits (unless they choose to wait outdoors) is often dark, lights out, before and during meetings and during the occasions when an Executive Session has been called. That night was no exception. I’ve been within earshot on several occasions in the last 14 months when residents have asked why the lights in the entrance area of city hall are turned out during City Council meetings. Some have said it’s hard to see in the area while others have asked if it is the city’s intention to give the impression that there is no meeting occurring by keeping the entrance to city hall dark. For me, it is the only governmental body I have ever covered that turns out the lights in the only area accessible to the public.

Back to the Feb. 21 meeting. After 30-45 minutes in Executive Session, I could hear Mayor Ralph Moore calling for a vote. Glancing through the windows in the council chamber doors I could see elected officials began to leave their seats. About half a minute later the door was opened, as prescribed by Georgia law, to let the public back in. Georgia Open Meetings Law requires that, once an Executive Session ends, the public re-enters the chambers to be informed as to whether an action had been taken. At that point, a motion is to be made in public to adjourn the meeting and a vote taken do to so. That is the law. But that is not what happened Feb. 21. As I entered the council chambers, I noticed that two council members had already left the table while another councilwoman and the mayor were standing. I decided to ask City Attorney Dennis Davenport, still seated at the table conversing with the City Administrator, when the meeting was going to be adjourned. Dennis responded, “The meeting was adjourned as the door was opening.” His response was patently incorrect.

I’m not sure what to make of this. (I saw this happen on another occasion in Union City and chalked it up to a mistake.) Perhaps the laws of physics were suspended in Union City on Feb. 21, allowing council members to be in two places at the same time. Perhaps Dennis did not notice that the vote to adjourn was taken prior to the public re-entering the council chambers. Or perhaps it was something else. The reality is that a vote was taken to adjourn the public meeting prior to the public being allowed to re-enter the room and hear the outcome of the Executive Session. A quick check with the Georgia Attorney General’s office verified that the way the meeting was adjourned was a technical violation of state law.

This apparently illegal action by the Union City Council may seem small to many citizens. But it also speaks to a larger issue, one that affects all citizens. The City Attorney is an intelligent man. The Union City Council is largely composed of individuals with many years in elected office. These people should know better. Yet their actions Feb. 21, while perhaps minor on the scale of things, nonetheless calls into question either their knowledge of the letter of the law or their willingness to comply with it. And the letter of the law notwithstanding, their action also calls into question the spirit of the law. The Georgia Open Meetings Law was enacted to protect the public, to forestall secrecy by elected officials, to hold your elected representatives to the standard of accountability and transparency that citizens deserve. The spirit of the law was violated Feb. 21. Whether out of arrogance or ignorance or innocence I cannot objectively say.

And maybe it doesn’t matter. After all, I was the only one that remained after the meeting. But it does matter because the failure of your elected representatives to comply with the letter and the spirit of the law is tantamount to their disregard for it. As residents of any city or county, you are required to comply with local laws (ordinances). Your failure to do so results in some type of penalty. Are our elected officials any different?