Board of Mayor and Aldermen have 5 days to respond to ruling on fee increase in private session
The Mississippi Ethics commission has ruled that the Newton Board of Mayor and Aldermen violated the Open Meetings Act when it passed a $5 capital improvement fee increase during an executive session June 16, 2020, according to a preliminary report and recommendation issued Friday.
The commission determined that while the board entered executive session for a valid reason, the final action should have been voted on in open session.
“Based on the record in this case, the board entered executive session to discuss the termination of specific employees ‘due to a fiscal shortfall caused primarily by not having sufficient funds to service the existing city debt,’” the report states. “This type of discussion qualifies as a valid executive session topic under Section 25-4 l-7(4)(k). However, this particular reason for executive session requires that final budgetary adoption, i.e., the vote on a budgetary or fiscal item, must occur in open session. Accordingly, while the board did not violate the Open Meetings Act when its members discussed personnel matters in executive session at its June 16, 2020 meeting, it did violate the Act when it voted in executive session to increase the capital improvement fee.”
The Ethics Commission made the following recommendations:
• “The Ethics Commission should find the Board of Mayor and Aldermen for the City of Newton violated Section 25-41-7 of the Open Meetings Act when it voted to increase the capital improvement fee in executive session at its meeting on June 16, 2020.”
• “The Ethics Commission should order the Board of Mayor and Aldermen for the
City of Newton to refrain from further violations and comply strictly with the Open Meetings Act.”
The ruling was sent electronically and via U.S. Mail to City Attorney Brian Mayo and to The Newton County Appeal. The board has five business days to respond to the preliminary report.
If the ruling is contested, the commission could hold a hearing at 10 a.m. Jan. 13, 2021, at the Mississippi Ethics Commission office.
If no objection is received by the deadline, the right to a hearing will be waived, and a final order will be issued.
