Purcell asks commission for vote on recording closed meetings

A proposal to record conversations during closed sessions of Cape Girardeau County Commission meetings never made it to a vote Monday.

Second District Commissioner Jay Purcell made the motion during the commission's meeting that would have supplied any tape-recorded conversations to the county clerk. However, neither Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones or First District Commissioner Paul Koeper seconded the motion, therefore killing any opportunity for a vote.

The conversations would have served as a record that the clerk could transcribe onto paper. Purcell said conversations would not be available to the public until a vote on a closed session matter is complete.

"This would have been just another step toward open county government," Purcell said. "It would have been another way to have an accurate record of discussions. Why would anyone would be against that?"

Koeper said the motion caught him by surprise.

"I voted against it because it caught me off-guard and I don't know that part of the law," Koeper said. "For me to vote on something like that, I'd like to look at it first. For a big stickler about items being on the agenda, this wasn't even on there."

In the past Purcell has advocated making sure that items to be discussed in meetings be posted on an agenda in advance.

Jones called the proposal unnecessary.

"We've been able to operate very legally and appropriately for many, many years without Mr. Purcell's recordings."

The proposal is not uncommon for some government meetings throughout the United States. Those keeping record of conversations in closed sessions include a school board in Rock Island-Milan School District in Illinois, the city council of Mission Viejo, Calif., and Board of Governors of the Colorado State University System.

Missouri assistant attorney general Patricia Churchill said that any recording of a closed meeting is permissible only with the approval of the body. Churchill said anyone violating this provision is guilty of a class C misdemeanor.

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