Last week our reporter missed a meeting of Grayson City Council because he didn’t get an email notifying him that it had been rescheduled. We didn’t get the email here at the official contact email for the newspaper either.
According to the office of Mayor Troy Combs the email was sent to the reporter’s email, as well as to our local radio station, WUGO/WGOH. However, even if our reporter had received the email (he contends that it was never delivered) the city did not follow proper protocol in informing us of the meeting being rescheduled. This made it impossible for us to inform the public of the change through our community calendar, in clear violation of the Kentucky Revised Statutes.
Contacts at WUGO/WGOH have also been unable to verify that they received appropriate notice. Though they did reportedly receive an email, they stated the attachment was blank with no agenda items listed.
KRS 61.820(1) declares that “all meetings of all public agencies… shall be held at specified times and places which are convenient to the public.” KRS 61.820(2) further states that “all public agencies shall provide for a schedule of regular meetings by ordinance, order, resolution, bylaws, or by whatever other means may be required for the conduct of business,” and “the schedule of regular meetings shall be made available to the public.”
In the event that the city must reschedule a public meeting, or schedule any other special meeting, they are required by KRS 61.823(3) to “provide written notice of the special meeting,” which “shall consist of the date, time, and place of the special meeting and the agenda.”
This written notice must be provided at least 24 hours in advance of the special meeting, per KRS 61.823(4)(a). That section of the statutes states that “as soon as possible, written notice shall be delivered personally, transmitted by facsimile machine, or mailed to every member of the public agency as well as to each media organization which has filed a written request… so that it shall be received at least twenty-four (24) hours before the special meeting.” Subsection (b) also allows that notice to be sent via e-mail, if the agency has requested notice in that manner, as our organization has.
Subsection (c) further requires that written notice be posted in a “conspicuous place in the building which houses the headquarters of the agency… at least twenty-four (24) hours before the special meeting.” This notice would allow anyone who missed the other notices, but shows up to the regular meeting, to be informed that the meeting has been rescheduled.
In this recent instance, though, the city did not push the meeting back. They moved it up by a full day, from the regular Tuesday to the Monday before. Because of this, posting it at the city building – if the city did so as required by law – would not have been beneficial to anyone showing up to the regular Tuesday meeting.
The city of Grayson did have a compelling reason for moving their meeting – a conflict with the Grayson Area Chamber of Commerce awards banquet scheduled for the same evening.
We also do not believe there was any malicious intent or nefarious reasons for failing to notify us appropriately. This is evidenced by the fact that the city did make minutes and audio recordings of the meeting available to our reporter. They also informed us on Monday of their intent to hold another meeting today (Wednesday, December 18) to discuss and vote again on all new business that was voted on in the previous special meeting.
But, while they may not have intended to violate the law, the fact remains that they did so; and it isn’t the first time that it has happened. This is not the type of thing that we can ignore. Failing to call the city to task for these violations would be a dereliction of our journalistic duties.
When the city voted several years ago to rebrand their meeting room in memory of the late Jim Phillips, then mayor George Steele noted the veteran newsman’s dedication to transparency. One of the memories Steele shared was how Phillips would ask, each time council went into executive session, what the reason for the private session was. Phillips, he noted, treated the office of mayor with dignity while also holding it accountable and ensuring it abided by the letter of the law. He said that having Phillips name and image on the wall should serve as a reminder to council and future mayors of that duty.
It’s a duty we don’t intend on allowing the city to forget.
