County claims no laws broken

July 14, 2011 - Responding to the news that the Office of the State Attorney is reviewing claims that the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) has violated Sunshine Laws, County officials are standing by their policies.

The review, although not considered an investigation, reportedly stems from allegations made by Ward Scott, a former candidate for county commission, that the BOCC uses informal meetings to discuss matters, reach conclusions and make decisions on which they will later take a formal vote.

But Alachua County Communications Coordinator Mark Sexton said Scott is mixing issues.  According to the advice of legal counsel, Sexton said the meetings require only three things to be in compliance with Florida’s Sunshine Laws.

“Is the public invited? – The answer to that is absolutely,” said Sexton.  “In fact, there are citizens, who are active in government, who attend these meetings.”  The informal or special meetings are generally held in the Grace Knight Conference Room on the second floor of the County administration building.  If the room reaches capacity, Sexton said the commission will and has in the past, moved over to the main board room.

“Are these meetings advertised? – The answer to that is unequivocally ‘yes,’” he said, noting that they’re published in a newspaper, on a bulletin board inside the County administration building and on the County’s Web site.

“Are minutes kept? – Yes.  Not only are written minutes kept, but there’s an audio tape of meetings kept on file,” Sexton said.

He went a step further in challenging Scott’s allegations, saying, “Whether a meeting is called an ‘informal meeting’ or ‘special meeting,’ is semantics.  That has nothing to do with the sunshine if it has been properly advertised.”

Lee Pinkoson, Chair of the BOCC said criticism that the board is using overly vague agendas at informal meetings misses the mark because agendas aren’t even required.  He notes, however, that each informal meeting in recent months has had an agenda detailing that discussions would be about the upcoming budget.

Scott also takes aim at the County for allegedly using the informal meetings as a venue to gauge where fellow commissioners stand on certain issues, commonly referred to as “polling,” or “crystalizing” a vote.

Pinkoson admits he can remember two occasions over the last nine years when County Attorney David Wagner warned the board that it was getting too close to talking about issues which should only be discussed in quasi-judicial hearings.  And in response to those warnings, Pinkoson said, “We shut up.”

He noted, however, that he doesn’t believe the BOCC is breaking any laws by having general discussions about issues, especially when the meetings are open to the public and advertised.

Sexton said, “They go to the meetings with the idea that any commissioner can bring up any subject they want to discuss.”

He defends the BOCC saying, “This is a commission that is very interested in transparency.  We show our meetings on channel 12, live on the internet.  We archive the meetings so citizens can watch them at their leisure.”

Televising and internet archiving of informal meetings is a somewhat recent change.  Although the meetings have been held since the 1990s, only in recent months has the County begun to take video and offer a live feed of them.

Pinkoson said perhaps Scott’s complaint about the lack of documentation of the informal meetings has led the County to televising them.

“I don’t want there to be a perception that we’re trying to do things behind the scenes or hide anything from anybody,” he said.