Officials get conflicting Sunshine Law info

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Cape Girardeau County Commissioner Gerald Jones led a voluntary Sunshine Law training session Wednesday for new commissioners in Jefferson City. At another session, they got conflicting information about the law.

Jones, a former president of the Missouri Association of Counties, a member of the organization's board of directors and owner of the Cash-Book Journal, said he was asked to lead the class because "I am a newspaper man and the attorney general's office was too busy."

He handed out the newest version of Sunshine Law books, produced while Gov. Jay Nixon was attorney general.

Greg Donley, an Ozark County commissioner, said it seemed OK to make a decision "out in the field" as long as commissioners later voted on the issue in an open meeting.

First-term Warren County Commissioner Dan Hampson said he felt at ease after learning commissioners could discuss county business without declaring a meeting "as long as you don't make a definite decisions ... as long as you make the decision in the county commission chambers, with a formal quorum."

Hubie Kluesner, another first-term Warren County commissioner, said the Sunshine law is about common sense.

"You don't make a decision in a pickup truck," he said.

But Ivan L. Schraeder, attorney for the Missouri Association of Counties and the County Commissioners Association of Missouri, said official talk -- even in a field near a bridge -- should be posted as an open meeting, unless an emergency was underway.

Schraeder did not attend Jones' training session. He did discuss the law after referring to it in an afternoon session on pending legislation.

During a question-and-answer session, some commissioners asked Schraeder for guidance on whether it was OK for two or three commissioners -- a quorum of a three-member commission -- to visit a damaged bridge, take notes and discuss options.

"That's an open meeting," Schraeder said. "That needs to be posted."

Even as a posted meeting, he said, a technical violation could be the lack of public access. He asked if any of the nearly 200 commissioners present had shared rides to Jefferson City for Wednesday's training. Many nodded.

"Where's the room for the public [during a car ride]? I hope you drove a pickup truck," he said.

"There's nothing wrong with commissioners traveling together," he said, and "in fact, from the taxpayers perspective, it's a reasonably good practice" because it's more efficient.

A year ago this week, the relationship between Jones and 2nd District Commissioner Jay Purcell began to unravel, with the secret digital recording of a private conversation between the two as they shared a car ride to training in Jefferson City.

That secret recording and others made by Purcell were made public last May and led to a Sunshine Law lawsuit Purcell filed against the county commission, including himself, currently under appeal at the state court level.

This year, Jones, Purcell and new 1st District Commissioner Paul Koeper said they drove separately to the annual state training sessions. An estimated 300 commissioners arrived for the classes, though several stayed behind to deal with weather-related disasters in their counties.

In 2008, the Southeast Missourian recorded nearly a dozen potential Sunshine Law violations among several local public agencies, including a number of boards that report to the county commission. In one a case, a county park board member told a newspaper reporter a meeting notice wasn't posted because they didn't want the media there; other cases appeared to result from a lack of Sunshine Law knowledge or understanding.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

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