PUBLIC'S INTERESTS ARE BEST SERVED BY OPEN MEETINGS

From time to time, governmental groups like city councils, school boards and county commissions have closed meetings. The public is barred from these executive sessions. This means that sometimes government is secret, hidden from view.

Such meetings are regulated by Missouri's Open Meetings/Open Records Act. For many years strict guidelines have been in place that determine when it is appropriate -- or inappropriate -- for a meeting to be closed to the public.

Among the legitimate reasons for closing a meeting under the law, which is also called the Sunshine Law, are to discuss some specific personnel matters, some specific real estate topics or some specific legal issues. Note that the law carefully avoids allowing closed meetings for personnel, real estate or legal matters in general. The law, in fact, specifies generally that all governmental meetings in Missouri are to be open to the public, in full view of the bright light of citizen scrutiny. Hence the name Sunshine Law.

Like all laws, the Sunshine Law is subject to various interpretations. But through court cases the law has been tested, and the General Assembly from time to time has changed the law. These actions have given a pretty complete explanation of the intent of the law. Still, some governmental units look for reasons to close meetings.

Most of the time, government wants to meet in secrecy because of the embarrassment factor. Sensitive topics, some government officials say, should be handled delicately. And the law recognizes those certain instances when the meeting may -- not must -- be closed.

Conscientious elected and appointed officials, however, tend to look for ways to keep meetings open rather than closing them. The law even protects officials who vote against going into an inappropriate executive session that subsequently results in legal consequences.

The bottom line is that the Sunshine Law doesn't require any meetings to be closed -- ever. The decision to close a meeting, even for the reasons permitted, is always at the discretion of the officials who are having the meeting.

Some governmental units take great pride in the fact that have never closed a meeting. They have found that most matters usually discussed in closed session are items that can be handled administratively, which means policy-making boards, councils and commissions rarely, if ever, get bogged down in the minutia of government.

When officials, paid staff or their legal advisers take the inappropriate view that official meetings should be closed whenever possible, the public's interest is least served. And, in too many cases, the meetings are closed in violation of the Sunshine Law.

Whenever public officials decry the lack of interest or participation in government by the citizenry, they should carefully examine their own view of public meetings and how often they are conducted in secrecy.