mo ag sunshine letter to pevely 3-30-15
DESCRIPTION
Letter to the Pevely city gov't from the Missouri Attorney General following up on a Sunshine Law complaint. The complaint was closed with no action taken.TRANSCRIPT
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March 30,2015
P.O. BOX a99(573t 751-3327
City of Pevely, Board ofAldermenc/o Mr. Rick Arnold, Mayor401 iviain Sti-eeiPevely, Missouri 63070
Re: Sunshine Law Complaint
Dear Board Members,
Our offrce has recently received a response from all of the board membersconcerning a Sunshine Law complaint our office received concerning a statementAlderman Dave Young made during the January 26,2aLE board meeting.
We received responses from ali six aldermen. Alderman David Bewigresponded to our office that he did not have any conversations with AldermanYoung concerning the business license fee issue. Alderman Ilda Kennon informedour office that she did receive a phone call from Aldermen Young in reference to thebusiness license fee issue, but that she did not inform him how she would vote onthe issue. Alderman Deborah Hurley responded to our office that she does not meetwith other elected officials outside of regularly scheduled meetings. Alderman Hahnindicated in his response that he does not discuss public business with other electedofficials outside of public meetings. Aldermen Ed Walters informed us that he hadmet with Aldermen Young, local business owners and residents to discuss thebusiness license fee issue at a local restaurant, but Mr. Walters stated that he didnot indicate how he would vote on the issue.
Alderman Young aiso informed our of{ice that he had a meeting with localbusiness owners and residents to discuss the business license fee issue. Mr. Younginformed us that he spoke to Ms. Kennon over the phone about this issue. Mr.Young also let our office know that he discussed the issue with Ms. Hurley and thatshe spoke with him about this issue and the first responder vehicles for the policedepartment.
City of Pevely, Board of AldermenPage 2March 30, 2015
Our office would like to stress that even a d.iscussion over the phone can be a
meeting if a quorum of elected officials are present. However, it does not appear
that there was ever a quorum of elected officials present at any of these discussions.
Please note that the above material is meant as a summary of relevantprovisions of the Sunshine Law for your consideration and not as an offrcial opinion
Lf tfr. Attorney General of the State of Missouri. In providing this response, we do
not suggest that we are providing you legal advice or otherwise treating you as a
client of the Attorney General or any of his assistants.
We have closed this complaint. If you have any further questions or concerns
please feel free to contact our office at any time.
Sincerely,
CHRIS KOSTERAttorney General
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Casey LawrenceSunshine Law Coordinator(573) 751-8905 TelePhone(573) 751-5660 FacsimiieC as ev. [email protected]. qov