Webcam coverage

For those who are interested in open government, Cape Girardeau County Associate Commissioner Jay Purcell has taken a positive step by proposing live webcam coverage of county commission meetings.

The idea wasn't a novel one. The Missouri Legislature uses webcams in Jefferson City. But Purcell's suggestion appeared to jolt the other two commissioners.

Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones, when asked about the idea by a reporter, said "My God, give me a minute to digest it. This was brought up with no preparing, just out of the blue."

The other associate commissioner, Larry Bock, said, "You couldn't talk as freely. There's certain comments about things that are just not decided that shouldn't be talked about in public."

Jones and Bock, with their comments, not only made the case that webcams are a good idea, but they also gave a classic example of why Missouri's county commission meeting practices need to change.

The Sunshine Law is pretty simple. A quorum of a public body cannot meet privately. It must give 24 hours' notice of meetings, and an agenda that reasonably apprises the public of what that meeting will entail must be posted. The Sunshine Law allows public bodies to go into closed meetings for limited purposes that must be made known before the closed meeting takes place.

Under the Sunshine Law, no commissioner should discuss any county business with another commissioner except during a posted meeting.

Purcell might have been wise to have a discussion with his fellow commissioners before going public with his idea. The topic should have been listed as an agenda item for the commission. But the county commission has been loose with its meeting practices over the years. It has made decisions on many important items that were not posted on the agenda. An open meeting without a specific agenda is like a restaurant with no menu.

The commission's meetings are not formal meetings like most city council and school board meetings, but that is because the county has chosen not to make them more structured. Instead of having a set time to discuss agenda items, the commissioners often sit in the commission chamber for hours at a time, dealing with whatever comes up in the course of the day. Instead of adjourning as soon as agenda items are completed, commissioners informally continue to meet, a practice that guarantees long stretches with no members of the public in the room.

As a general practice, Southeast Missourian reporters attend commission meetings when an item of interest is listed on the agenda. But when agendas don't include topics that are discussed, or topics are brought to the commission willy-nilly, there is little opportunity to decide which portion of the commission's twice-weekly, three-hour sessions to sit through.

Webcams certainly would be a step in the right direction. In addition, the commission ought to post detailed agendas and stick to them. This would encourage more participation from the public, knowing when a topic would be discussed and approximately how long it might take.

Commissioners who worry about their availability to county officeholders and the public could keep regular office hours.

Transparency is essential to our freedom. In this electronic age, a webcam that gives the public more access to the deliberations of elected officials is a big step in the right direction.