Nixon sues Boonville over open meeting law

BOONVILLE, Mo. -- Attorney General Jay Nixon sued Boonville city officials Wednesday, saying they violated the state's open meetings law.

The suit charges that the Boonville City Council approved a salary offer for a city administrator at a Sept. 30 meeting, but that on Oct. 2, Boonville Mayor Danielle Blanck called council members for their approval to increase the offer.

Nixon said that under Missouri law, phone calls involving a quorum of a governing body constitute a public meeting, so notice must be given and votes taken must be released. He said neither happened in this case.

"Missouri's Sunshine Law was created for a purpose: to hold governmental bodies accountable to the citizens," Nixon said. "What we have here is a case where elected officials acted in defiance of that law, which is something we cannot and will not allow."

Blanck said the city had received the lawsuit, which was filed in Cooper County Circuit Court, but declined to comment further.

Nixon wants the court to find that Blanck and the council violated the law, to release minutes and votes from the meeting, and to require the city council to follow the law.