Sunshine Law workshop scheduled for Aug. 31

The Missouri attorney general's office will offer a free Sunshine Law workshop Aug. 31 at the Cape Girardeau County administration building in Jackson.

The workshop is a part of a statewide effort by Attorney General Chris Koster to educate government officials on how to better conduct their business with transparency and fairness.

Leading the course will be Tom Durkin, attorney general public education director. A former Missouri Senate administrative assistant and high school teacher, Durkin has traveled the state educating students, residents and government officials on the Sunshine Law. One of his first organizations to speak to was the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

Durkin said he hopes to travel to every county by National Sunshine Week in March.

"I am going to each of the counties in the state and explain the law from an educator's background," Durkin said. "The attorney general would rather educate than litigate."

Durkin said better understanding of law is a way to preserve Americans' freedom.

"Freedom in America is a citizen's opportunity to participate and understand what's going on in government," he said. "So open records law is part of that freedom. I would hope people would understand this is essence of what and who we are as a nation."

Topics Durkin will cover include who the Sunshine Law applies to, what a public meeting is and how to appoint a custodian of records.

The workshop will be offered at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

For more information about the workshop, call 573-751-8844.

bblackwell@semissourian.com

388-3628

Pertinent address:

1 Barton Square, Jackson, MO