Prove to the public you value ‘transparency’

Two very concerning actions were taken this week by officials with the city of Poplar Bluff.

The council is attempting to fill an open at-large seat until the next election, in April 2024.

The first action we’re concerned with was a move Tuesday to take the discussion of a public position into a closed session, in this case, the council chose to weigh the merits of seven candidates for the position and vote on their choice outside of the public eye.

We and the Missouri Press attorney believe this is in clear violation of the state’s open meetings law. The city cited the employee exemption for closing the discussion, but council members do not receive a salary and are not employees of the city. They serve the public.

The second action was the choice not to explain to the citizens why the council felt it had the authority to take this step.

The Daily American Republic reached out to officials Tuesday afternoon, in advance of the meeting, and expressed concern that a closed discussion and vote would violate Missouri’s Sunshine Law. We also shared ahead of the closed meeting the reasons the Missouri Press attorney cited for that.

The council chose to move forward with the closed meeting and city officials declined Wednesday to offer any further explanation for why they felt this meeting did not violate the law.

Serving in an elected position is an extremely difficult and very often thankless job. We want to acknowledge that first.

Very often these public boards often find themselves in the midst of situations that are very complex and very difficult. The decisions they make will have a profound impact on the community, and they will never be able to make everyone happy, all of the time.

That said, these are public offices that have a responsibility to the public to follow open meeting laws and to make themselves accountable to the public for their decisions.

Transparency is a word that’s used widely by those seeking public office, but too often when the transition is made to “elected official” it all but disappears.

The Poplar Bluff City Council is scheduled to meet again in closed session Monday to discuss and vote on a candidate to fill a vacant slot after one of their at-large members stepped down due to personal reasons.

Seven people have stepped forward and expressed their interest in filling this public position until the next election.

We call on the council to follow open meeting laws and move this item into Monday’s open session or explain how this matter meets the “employee” exemption, which has been cited as the reason for moving into closed session.

Missouri Sunshine law states clearly on page 28 of the book published by Attorney General Andrew Bailey, “board members, like elected officials, are not ‘employees’ of the body.”

Missouri Press attorney Jean Maneke has also cited the following information and past decisions regarding the matter.

“State law specifically sets out the ‘impeachment’ process for discipline of elected officials, which I would point out occurs in an open meeting,” Maneke said. “Elected officials cannot be ‘fired’ or ‘disciplined’ by other elected officials. No state law gives officials the power to ‘discipline’ other officials.”

Maneke said previous decisions by Missouri courts have supported in specific cases that discussion and action regarding elected positions should take place in public.

“Back in 1980, a Missouri appellate court held that it was a violation of the sunshine law for a city council meeting to be closed to discuss a mayor’s salary,” Maneke said. “One key distinction, in that case, was that the mayor was an elected executive officer of the city, while employees were not. And Republican William Webster, in 1989 and 1994, twice issued clear and pointed opinions that an elected official was not an ‘employee’ of a public governmental body.”

We respect the work and decisions this council makes on behalf of the citizens, but they also need to show respect now for the citizens and the laws they serve.