I have debated over writing this and decided I needed to do this.
I BELIEVE IN TRANSPARENCY!!!
I BELIEVE THERE SHOULD NEVER BE COUNCIL MEETINGS WITH A QUORUM WITHOUT PUBLIC NOTICE!
There was a meeting held on July 28th. I was under the impression it was a council meeting to discuss the UDO (Unified Development Ordinance). The mayor had sent out an email on 7/15 with the following: “I will send out a meeting invitation once we’ve confirmed availability with MRB. The goal of this meeting will be to prepare a final draft for Council consideration at the next official council meeting.” Then on 7/22 she sent another email with the following: “We’ve scheduled a Council Workshop to discuss UDO next Monday, 6/28 (later corrected to 7/28), in the council chambers from 2-4pm. Because some have expressed they will not be attending, we’re asking you to RSVP. (We will advertise it as there’s a possible quorum, but there will be no public input.)
THERE WAS NO PUBLIC NOTICE! Even the city calendar did not have it as a council workshop. I found the calendar entry just before the meeting that showed “2p UDO discussion” and when I clicked on the entry, the page displayed “UDO Discussion. Event posted by Planning Commission. Proposed UDO discussion”.
The mayor said the press was notified. That is not notification to the public.
The Planning Commission chairman was not aware of the meeting.
The entire council was present. Only one other council member, Justin Alexander, and myself were greatly concerned with having this meeting without public notice. All the others seemed to be fine with it.
The following was taken from the “Public Official’s Guide to Compliance With South Carolina’s Freedom Of Information Act” provided by the South Carolina Press Association. (You can download a free copy at this address.) This document includes the full text and a plain-language guide to applications of the Freedom of Information Act concerning public meetings and public records in South Carolina.
FOIA law:
Section 30-4-20 Definitions
(d) “Meeting” means the convening of a quorum of the constituent membership of a public body, whether corporal or by means of electronic equipment, to discuss or act upon a matter over which the public body has supervision, control, jurisdiction, or advisory power.
We all know the city is a municipality of the state of SC and is a public body. A quorum is a simple majority of the constitutes membership. All council members were in attendance so we met the quorum rule. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the UDO, therefore we met the definition of a meeting.
Section 30-4-60 Meetings of public bodies shall be open
Every meeting of all public bodies shall be open to the public unless closed pursuant to Section 30-4-70 of this chapter. (refers to qualified executive sessions)
Plain and simple. No explanation needed. MEETINGS ARE TO BE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC (except those mentioned in Section 30-4-70.) This meeting qualified for being open to the public.
But there was no public notice in the newspaper, no agenda, and no city calendar entry for the council meeting. This is a FAILURE of the current administration. If they do this, what else is being done behind closed doors? Until the public makes a change to the council members who are ok with the lack of transparency and having council meeting with no public notice, this will continue. Only a few people on the council feel we must abide by these laws and have no way to enforce it. One way to change this is to speak out about the lack of transparency. Another way is to REPLACE the members in Nov. who do not do the right thing.