"You ALMOST got it right Commissioner Wood..."

After attending many City Commission meetings I have been witness to the Commission adjourning into Executive Session many times. That is, either one of the Commissioners or City Attorney would call for one, usually without prefacing its purpose, and then end the meeting on that note. I pointed out here on an earlier post that this was illegal...

"Upon formal motion made, seconded and carried, all bodies and
agencies subject to the open meetings act may recess, but not adjourn, open
meetings for closed or executive meetings."

Any motion to recess for a closed or executive meeting shall include a statement of

(1) the justification for closing the meeting,

(2) the subjects to be discussed during the closed or executive meeting
and

(3) the time and place at which the open meeting
shall resume.

Such motion, including the required statement, shall be recorded in
the minutes of the meeting and shall be maintained as a part of the permanent
records of the body or agency. Discussion
during the closed or executive
meeting shall be limited to those subjects stated in the
motion.

So at the February 7 meeting of the Commission when almost to the end and ready to adjourn, the Mayor asked if the City Attorney had anything to add...

"Yes, I will need an Executive Session for about 15 minutes...(pause)...Oh and by the way, it's a legal matter..."

The Mayor picked up his gavel to end the meeting when Commissioner Barbara Wood interjected...

"I think I need to make a motion for this, so I will make a motion that the Commission adjourn to Executive Session to discuss a legal matter starting at 9:14 and ending in 15 minutes..."

The motion was seconded and all voted aye and then Mayor adjourned the meeting.

So what's wrong with that?

The Commission is to RECESS into Executive Session, not adjourn the meeting, and it was missing another element; besides stating that it was a legal matter, (the justification statement), it should also have been stated just what type of legal matter would be discussed. (Examples: to discuss the acquisition of property, or discuss pending litigation etc.)

What's so important about that?

It assures the public that Commission business is open and transparent and that there isn't any monkey business going on behind closed doors. Such as the Commission trying to figure out how they are going to 'spin" the budget debacle or unbalanced books to the public as just a couple of examples.

Anyway, it was nice to finally see an attempt on the Commission's part to do the right thing when calling for an Executive Session, perhaps they will fine tune it the next time and make sure only to recess, and return to a meeting in the future.

I wonder what caused Commissioner Wood to start initiating the new procedure?

Could she possibly be and avid reader of my blog too?

Hmmmm.....