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Editorials - 07/12/01Public bodies should meet in public places |
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Elected officials are chosen by the voters to conduct the people's business. And the Tar Heel State has very specific rules about just how, when and where that business is to be conducted.
North Carolina's Open Meetings Law was passed by our General Assembly to ensure that county commissioners, school boards, town boards and their appointed committees, commissions and task forces operate in the sunshine - in full view of the people who elected them.
Public bodies are required to announce a schedule of regular meetings and give two business days' notice before they can hold extra meetings. They are required to publish legal notices announcing the public hearings often required by state statutes. Here in Jackson County, for the most part, our various boards do a good job with these requirements. Only very rarely do they invoke the privilege of an emergency meeting, which requires no advance notice. Because the town of Sylva's standing committees are comprised of three board members, which constitutes a quorum and a majority, all such meetings must adhere to the provisions of the Open Meetings Law. Due to a misunderstanding on their part, a few meetings were held without adequate notice last spring, but Sylva is now doing a good job of announcing those sessions. But there is another issue that seems problematic: The location of special meetings and work sessions. While most special meetings are held in the board rooms of the public body in question, retreats and work sessions are another matter. The school board often (including one set for next week) holds work sessions at Grassy Creek, which this newspaper describes as "the private retreat of board member Mary Jane Dillard's family." How many citizens, concerned about school system policy or other matters, could find the location of the meeting? How many would feel comfortable attending? And now we find that Sylva's Street Committee scheduled a meeting yesterday in the hospital room of board member Norma Lee, who is at Harris Regional recovering from a broken hip. While we offer Lee our heartfelt sympathy and condolences and wish her only the best, a hospital room is not a proper place for a public body to meet - especially when the meeting could just as easily be held at town hall with Lee joining by speaker phone. We have often stated our position that public bodies should observe the letter of North Carolina's Open Meetings Law. We believe they should observe its spirit as well. |
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