McAlester News-Capital, McAlester, OK

Local News

April 9, 2008

Council nixes meeting ordinance

By Susan Brittingham

After much discussion, the McAlester City Council did not pass an ordinance requiring all city boards and commissions to comply with the Open Meeting Act of the State of Oklahoma.

The decision was made during Tuesday night’s regularly scheduled city council meeting.

Ward Six Councilor and Vice Mayor Sam Mason said he couldn’t see ordering anyone to comply with the law. “We all know, basically, that that’s what we have to do,” he said, adding that there are gray areas.

Volunteer organizations and advisory committees, Mason said, fall under a “gray area” and sometimes the members don’t fully understand the Open Meeting Act.

“It’s not that big a deal to post the meeting and keep the minutes,” Mason said.

Then he voted against the ordinance.

Here is how everyone else voted: Mayor Don Lewis, yes; Ward Four Councilor Haven Wilkinson, yes; Ward Two Councilor Donnie Condit, no. Ward One Councilor Weldon Smith, abstained.

Ward Three Councilor Travis Read and Ward Five Councilor Buddy Garvin were not present at the meeting.

Condit and Mason both said they thought an ordinance requiring compliance was “overkill.” Several council members wondered if there shouldn’t be a resolution instead.

An ordinance is a local law, enforced by local police and district attorneys. Resolutions are non-binding, unenforcible statements made by a municipality’s legislative body.

City Attorney Bob Ivester noted that “the Audit and Finance Committee didn’t think they fell under” the Open Meeting Act, “but now they’re going to be in our Charter.”

Ivester said he thought compliance should be an ordinance, while Condit recommended supplying the groups with “a copy of the law and telling them they’re required to go by it.”

In the 12th edition of the Oklahoma Open Meeting & Open Records Book, Attorney General Drew Edmondson wrote “Although there are several exemptions to the Act, our general advice to public officials and agencies is to presume that all records are open.

“If we start with that premise, and conduct our business accordingly, we will avoid much of the contentiousness that often accompanies questions about open records.”

In other news, the council approved the following appointments: Tom Steidley Sr. to the Personnel Board, with a term to expire April 2011; John McNally to the Board of Adjustment, with a term to expire March 2011; and Ruth Harkins to the Americans with Disabilities Act Board, with a term to expire August 2009.

They also approved a single operator beauty salon at 1020 E. Cherokee Ave. and rezoned property from single family residential to two-family duplex, residential, for construction of a two-family duplex at the corner of Harrison Avenue and Fifth Street.

Also, the number of members on the Planning Commission was changed from 15 to 11. The mayor said an 11-member board was more workable and members would be lost through attrition.

Contact Susan Brittingham at 421-2029 or e-mail sbrittingham@mcalesternews.com.

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