Auditor: Governments not following Sunshine Law

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- State and local governments are routinely violating Missouri's open records and meeting law, State Auditor Tom Schweich said Monday while releasing a report highlighting dozens of problems over the past two years.

Schweich said nearly 20 percent of the roughly 300 audits released by his office in 2010 and 2011 contained at least one violation of the state Sunshine Law.

The most common violations related to closed meetings. Thirty-four audits found cases in which governmental bodies failed to adequately document their votes to go into closed session. Twenty-nine audits cited government entities for discussing issues in closed sessions that did not appear to be allowed under the state open meetings law.

"It is imperative the public entities take the Sunshine Law seriously and abide by its requirements, Schweich said in a news release.

Schweich released his latest report to coincide with the start of Sunshine Law week in Missouri.

The report cited 16 audits that found governmental bodies failed to keep minutes for all of their closed meetings.

Among other things, Schweich said several governmental entities lacked appropriate policies and procedures regarding public access to records, and some entities did not post adequate notices or agendas about upcoming meetings.