Small Town News

Ignorance of open-meeting law is no excuse

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It's a sad day when the Attorney General's Office finds Sussex County Council does not understand the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act. The gloom only deepens when council acknowledges technical violations of the law without addressing the real issue: County council held improper executive sessions as it searched for a candidate to replace County Administrator Dave Baker. It also failed to produce proper minutes of the meetings.

It was only after a complaint was filed that council stopped its selection process and approved, in public, what had already done behind closed doors.

It defies common sense to believe not a single one of the five council members realized they were violating the Freedom of Information Act when they announced they would meet behind closed doors to discuss personnel matters when those matters were actually the qualifications of county administrator candidates who were clearly not yet personnel of the county. To assert, as council President Mike Vincent does in a press release, that the council

and county staff have "always intended the process to be as open as possible" is simply not supported by the facts - especially the fact that council redacted the minutes of at least one meeting and failed to explain the redaction to the Attorney General's Office. As the ruling notes, "neither of the other matters discussed... appear to have concerned any of the nine purposes for executive session."

This case clearly illustrates the feeble protection offered by the Freedom of Information Act. The council conducted its search improperly, but suffers no penalty for having done so.

The council can continue to consider its violation of the Freedom of Information Act a mere technicality, but by doing so, the council is admitting ignorance of the public's right to know what its government is doing. If the council truly does not understand the law, that problem must be rectified.

Citizens are already clamoring for a public process on the issue of redistricting. Cries of "technicality" do not ring true this time, but they will certainly not be defensible a second time around.





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