Today’s clouds in the sunshine

Some days the calls that come into the hotline just astound me. One just cannot believe all the
times the Sunshine Law is violated on a daily basis.

On one side of the state, the word is that again a city council is meeting to accept resignations in
closed session. Where in the law does it say that resignations are closed meeting subjects?
Answer: NOWHERE. Look closely at 610.021 (3). It talks about hiring, firing, disciplining
and promoting…. It does NOT talk about resignations. Those belong in open session only.
Again, this is pretty basic but apparently not to everyone.

Meanwhile, on another side of the state, a consulting firm is working to find a new city manager
for a city. That firm has polled the council members regarding qualifications for the candidate.
They have compiled these suggestions and are claiming those are records held by a private
company and not a public record. WRONG AGAIN. Look at the definition of a public record.
It’s any record … retained by … any public governmental body including any … document …
prepared …by a consultant or other professional service paid for in whole or in part by public
funds, including records created or maintained by private contractors under an agreement with a
public governmental body or on behalf of a public governmental body….

Seems pretty clear to me.