Sunshine in Missouri

Give me kisses when I'm good and spank me when I'm bad

    I've been hearing a lot of grumbling lately about a lawyer who's filing sunshine lawsuits against smaller cities in the state.  Word is that at least one city has settled with him.  And some who are involved with local government are beginning to blame the sunshine law for the problems this lawyer is creating.

    Give me a break!  I have heard nothing yet to cause me to believe that it's the lawyer's fault that these cities are having sunshine law problems.  If he's asking for records that don't exist anymore, why would the city think it had any obligation to produce those records?  You can't produce records that don't exist!  It's not a violation of the law to tell him that and tell him to take a hike!

    And if the issue is that it's going to take time to produce these records, well then all the city has to do is to respond within three days of receipt of the request, advising that it needs more time.  The law says the city has a right to charge for the search time.  (They never seem to give MY clients a break on that!)  The law doesn't give them a deadline on the time it takes to find these records, other than it must be "reasonable," whatever that means.  What in the world are cities getting bent out of shape about? 

    The truth is probably one of two things:  The city is mad that it's having to toe the line on doing things legally.  Whether it's to produce records or take the proper steps to enact taxes for its local residents, city officials need to get proper advice from the city attorney and make sure officials are taking the proper steps in doing their civic duty.  Or the city has found out that it ISN'T taking these steps (or more accurately, has failed to take these steps in the past and now is being called up for its shortfall) and that it may incur some significant expense because of its shortcomings.

    And when that happens, what do they do?  Blame the sunshine law.  Oh, sure, easy target...  How about, instead, let's put the blame where it belongs.  Let's call a spade a spade.  When a city gets caught with its pants down, perhaps there's a reason it gets a spanking....

All by myself, don't wanna be all by myself anymore...

    Late last week, I got a call from someone about a vote taken by city council members concerning paying for an economic study relating to a tax increment financing proposal.  Apparently there was some dispute in the community about the developer paying for it, and the city was being asked to help fund the proposal.

    The question related to the fact that the Mayor apparently sent out an email to all members of the council asking if it was okay to agree to pay for part of the cost of the study.  This Mayor clearly had forgotten that this involved the expenditure of public funds.  A public governmental body cannot simply make those kinds of decisions by responding to information emails from the mayor.  This kind of a decision requires a vote to be taken in an open meeting.

    I suppose if some kind of emergency existed and this vote to spend money had been required for some reason where there was clear evidence that the body couldn't wait to give the proper notice and hold a meeting, there might be a basis to argue that an electronic "meeting" was required with a lack of proper notice.  But there's no evidence such an emergency existed, and even if it had, this was not the proper way to conduct such an emergency meeting.  The Mayor clearly failed on every level.

    What's even funnier is that the Mayor's hand was called by one of the very members of this city's council.  And what did the Mayor do when her hand was called?  She told the member, in a huff, that this member's vote was the sole one opposed to the measure, so it didn't matter what she thought.

    Those sound like words that someone may regret someday!  How sad that only one member of this illustrious body understands their obligation under state law and wants to do the right thing!