The Enterprise-Journal and Southwest Broadcasting Inc. have filed a lawsuit against the city of McComb, its mayor and board of selectmen for allegedly violating the Mississippi Open Meetings Act to conduct city business behind closed doors.
According to the lawsuit, the newspaper and Southwest Broadcasting radio stations WAKH-FM, WAKK-AM and WAPF-AM take issue with recent closed-door meetings in which the city board authorized employee pay raises and created a new city department, among other action.
The plaintiffs filed the suit in Pike County Chancery Court on Thursday.
A lawsuit represents one side of a legal dispute.
The newspaper and radio stations are seeking a judge’s order that states the city board knowingly violated the law, an injunction prohibiting further violations, a fine of $100 for each violation and payment of court and attorney fees.
In recent months, the city board has approved numerous across-the-board pay raises in every city department and created the Department of Community Relations, Activities and Tourism, among other action, in closed meetings, according to the suit.
The plaintiffs allege the city board broke the law each time it went into executive session using the blanket phrase “personnel matters” as its qualifying reason.
The suit states that the defendants’ use of “personnel matters” is an insufficient reason to go into closed session.
The plaintiffs contend the Mississippi Open Meetings Act states that closed meetings may only be conducted under the auspices of personnel when “matters that relate to job performance, character, professional competence, or physical or mental health of a person holding a specific position” are to be discussed.
“The board of selectmen should have discussed these issues in public. There was nothing to hide,” Enterprise-Journal Editor Jack Ryan said in a written statement.
According to the lawsuit, the city authorized the following actions in illegal closed-door meetings:
• On April 10, 2007, the board voted unanimously to authorize a $5,000 pay increase for McComb police officers as well as to reorganize the department’s personnel.
• On May 8, 2007, the board granted a $5,755 pay raise to McComb Fire Department employees. Additionally, the board voted to enact “Operation Strict Enforcement,” a policy of increased police patrols in high-crime areas. The lawsuit also says that the action was not reflected in the meeting’s minutes.
• On May 22, 2007, the board authorized a $3,500 pay raise for 48 McComb Department of Public Works employees and other raises for public works management. The board also created the Department of Community Relations, Activities and Tourism and its director position, which would report to the mayor.
• On June 12, 2007, the board approved pay increases for city employees in the support and communications departments, police holding facility, recreation department, inspection and zoning and other employees at City Hall and the fire department.
The raises authorized in that meeting cost the city $196,000, according to the lawsuit.
After the May 22 closed session, Patterson was informed that the meeting’s action was illegal; however, according to the suit, the mayor said then that the raises and the creation of the new department were conducted in closed session because they concern a “sensitive issue.”
He also denied wrongdoing on Southwest Broadcasting’s “This Morning with Carl Lazenby” on WAKK-AM, the suit states.
Plaintiffs allege that minutes from the June 12 closed session omitted any action or votes. Only after plaintiffs inquired about the matter were the minutes retyped, according to the suit.
Additionally, the suit says the open meetings law requires all budget items to be public unless an item “might affect termination of an employee or employees.”
Southwest Broadcasting general manager Charles Dowdy said this morning that the radio station and newspaper approached the city several times to reach an agreement over the correct interpretation of what can be discussed in closed meetings.
“And we haven’t really gotten anywhere, and we felt like we’d take the next step,” he said.
Ryan said in a statement he was agreeable to most of the action emerging from the closed sessions, especially the pay raises, “but our contention is that the board violated the open meetings law repeatedly.”
Patterson has said publicly the recent city employee pay raises would have taken much longer and may never have happened in an open meeting. He has said that he abides by every law, and when in doubt, he confides in city attorney John H. “Bubber” White.
He also stated in a recent speech that if faced with a lawsuit he’d pay the $100 penalty for violating the open meetings law if that’s the cost to activate employee pay raises.
Dowdy disagrees with the city’s methods.
“I don’t think governing behind closed doors is a good idea,” he said.
Patterson did not return phone calls this morning seeking comment.
The plaintiffs are being represented by Leonard Van Slyke and Christopher Shaw of Jackson.
