Concerned about private meetings
A lot of people are after the Columbus City Council for spending on legal fees to defend their position regarding the Ethics Commissions rulings against them. I can see they could believe this is even bigger than Columbus. If the opinion is left to stand (which I believe it should) it will change the way the public business is conducted throughout Mississippi.
Our immediate concern should be Councilman Turner’s belief the Council should be able to meet and discuss things in private that would be difficult in the public view. In Common Cause the Mississippi Supreme Court acknowledged that there will be things that will be difficult to discuss in private but the public right to know outweighs that difficulty. Surely the MML sessions and newly elected official education should have dissuaded him from this belief. The statue gives public bodies 12 valid exceptions to close a meeting that started in open session. Those are the only times and reasons a public body should be discussing policy in private.
Berry Hinds
Columbus
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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