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| | Issue #20.52 :: 12/26/2007 - 01/01/2008 | Richland Council Breaks Sunshine Law
Kit Smith Says "Time to Clean Up Our Act"
| BY JULIE JAREMA
| Looks like lumps of coal in the stockings of Richland County Council this Christmas — well maybe not for Councilwoman Kit Smith. She might get a tiny gavel.
Smith laid down the law at the last County Council meeting of the year Dec. 18 when staff and other council members, including Damon Jeter, tried to slip items on the agenda that were not posted 24 hours in advance for the public to see. Not providing 24-hour notice of the revised, complete agenda violates the S.C. Freedom of Information Act.
“It’s time to clean up our act,” Smith said, adding that this infringement of the FOIA had been occurring more and more frequently and urging the council to be more conscientious about giving proper notification to the public.
The admonition riled some council members.
Councilwoman Bernice Scott, who wanted to hear a personnel matter concerning the recent death of a county deputy that the county attorney tried to add to the agenda, said the matter was an emergency and that if the public didn’t like it, “they could vote us out every four years.”
Councilman Damon Jeter, chair of the council’s Economic Development Committee, said he was better equipped to give his report right after the committee had met and had his report added to the agenda at the last minute.
Councilman Norman Jackson said the 24-hour notice requirement should apply across the board.
Jay Bender, a freedom of information lawyer who teaches in the USC School of Journalism & Mass Communications, says Smith is right. “The law says that the agenda must be posted not less than 24 hours before the meeting,” Bender says. “If you amend the agenda, it requires the same 24-hour notice because it’s the agenda from the meeting.”
He says County Council violated the FOIA and it’s the public who loses out. “If you allow the government to amend the agenda at a meeting and not give notice, you have foreclosed the possibility that the public can attend the debate,” Bender says. “You have also foreclosed the opportunity for a citizen to call a representative to express their view about the topic.”
Smith agrees. “You can’t just put things on the agenda without letting the public know,” she says. Smith says it’s a disservice to the public and council members themselves. “How do they expect us to make a decision with 15 minutes notice?”
For their New Year’s resolutions, council members might want to strive to adhere to the FOIA or they might be voted out in four years, or worse, sued for violating the law. | |
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