Knoxville Council Backs Sunshine Law

Members approve resolution against weakening standards

By Hayes Hickman

© 2007 Knoxville News Sentinel

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

The Tennessee Open Meetings Act works just fine as it is for Knoxville City Council members, who unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday night signaling their opposition to any changes that would lessen the law governing local elected officials' meetings and deliberations.

The resolution, spurred by ongoing talks among state officials to consider allowing more private meetings under the law, was sponsored by all nine council members.

Councilwoman Barbara Pelot recalled her service on a city charter revision commission in the 1970s, when a copy of the sunshine law, as it's often called, was distributed to each commission member "on the first day," she said.

Pelot said she still has her copy, and she dismissed the arguments of some who now are proposing changes to the statute in the interest of clarifying its terms.

"It was never unclear to me," she said. "It was very clear to me that we were to work within that framework … and it has served us well. We have too many people who want to tamper with it."

Currently, the Open Meetings Act prohibits any private deliberations by two or more members of the same elected body. Groups including the Tennessee Municipal League, representing nearly 350 cities across the state, and the Tennessee County Services Association, which represents all 95 county governments, propose changing the law to a quorum standard, or majority of an elected body, as is the case in 37 other states' open meetings laws.

"Here's an opportunity for Tennessee to remain a leader," said Councilman Rob Frost, who added that if the quorum standard were adopted by the state Legislature, "Then there's no reason to have a meeting like this one tonight."

Councilman Joe Hultquist said the language of the resolution was "dead on," and he also expressed his appreciation of the decision by Knox County Chancellor Daryl R. Fansler last month in upholding the law.

A jury found Knox County commissioners guilty of violating the law in a verdict last month, after News Sentinel Editor Jack McElroy and nine county residents sued them for conducting private deliberations outside a Jan. 31 meeting to appoint replacements for 12 term-limited officials removed from office. Fansler's subsequent written decision offered a "strong, broad and sweeping" interpretation of the law, Hultquist said.

"I think what we've seen on the county side is problematic," Hultquist said.

The council also unanimously approved a resolution encouraging the town of Farragut to voluntarily increase its share of local option sales tax revenues committed to Knox County schools.

Farragut currently contributes 50 percent of its annual collections, the minimum required by state law, compared to Knox County and the city of Knoxville, which each contribute 72 percent.

Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam joined council members in voicing his support for the idea.

"Bottom line is there is nothing more important we can do than to adequately fund our schools," he said.

Hayes Hickman may be reached at 865-342-6323.