Yours truly visited the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority this afternoon in an attempt to see the minutes for the February 10, 2020 meeting of the Board of Commissioners. JMAA refused access to the minutes in violation of state law.
JJ reported last week JMAA's former Chief Financial Officer sued her former employer in January 2021. She claimed the Board terminated her at a February 10, 2020 meeting of the Board of Commissioners. The minutes are not posted on the JMAA website. Earlier post.
The notice posted was actually issued on February 5, 2020:
Section Section 25-41-11 of the Mississippi Code states:
1) Minutes shall be kept of all meetings of a public body, whether in open or executive session, showing the members present and absent; the date, time and place of the meeting; an accurate recording of any final actions taken at such meeting; and a record, by individual member, of any votes taken; and any other information that the public body requests be included or reflected in the minutes. The minutes shall be recorded within a reasonable time not to exceed thirty (30) days after recess or adjournment and shall be open to public inspection during regular business hours.
JMAA no longer keeps books of minutes but instead keeps them on a computer. The Attorney General ruled in a July 31, 2020 opinion for Bay St. Louis that municipalities could store the minutes electronically but it had to make available a public access terminal:
Pursuant to Sections 21-15-17 and 25-41-11, municipal meeting minutes must be made available to the public, for review and inspection, in the office of the municipal clerk during regular office hours. To ensure the public’s free access to municipal meeting minutes which may be electronically stored and maintained, the municipal clerk’s office must be equipped with a public-access computer terminal. See, MS AG Ops., Barber and McKenzie.
It is the opinion of this office that a municipality may forego the use of physical minute books and store all minutes electronically; provided, however, all requirements of Miss. Code Ann. Sections 21-15-1, et seq., inclusive of the signing and seal requirements of Section 21-15-3, are satisfied and the minutes are publicly available for review and inspection.
I told the receptionist I wanted to see the minutes. Two gentlemen met me in the lobby a few minutes later. I said I wanted to see the Board minutes. I explained I wanted to see the Board minutes for this year as well as the February 10 meeting. One gentleman said they are on the website. I said the February 10 minutes were not on the website. I also explained I wanted to see claims dockets and reports accepted into the minutes. Those items are part of the minutes even though they are not posted on the JMAA website with what is typically considered to be "the minutes."
I was told I would have to file a public records request. I said I did not have to file the request per the Open Meetings Act. I also handed them a copy of the A.G. opinion. I was told it applied only to municipalities. It is hard to see how the A.G. will not rule it also applies to counties and agencies such as CMU and JMAA but ok, have it your way for today, shamus. They said it would be referred to legal counsel.
In the end, I was not allowed to look at the minutes.
The law clearly states yours truly, as well as any citizen, has the right to look at those minutes and the attached documents accepted into the minutes during business hours under the Mississippi Code and that, my friends, is the bottom line.
42 comments:
Please keep us updated! What are they trying to hide????
Stay on em, KF. As a former AG lawyer, I can confirm that you are correct.
Did you call in advance and state, "I'm headed to the airport to see the minutes - Please have them available for viewing". If not, that was your mistake. I hope at least you swung by Mugshots for a burger and brew to deal with the disappointment. If not, that was your second mistake.
Law says I don't have to.
Once upon a time I had this little scene in a movie ...
I bet Tom Hood will be so angry with their improper refusal of access to public records that he will issue a strongly worded letter.
@7:41. The law says you can show up and review as long as it is during normal business hours. Advance notice is not required.
Why would a person give them time to get the lies ready? Make them ad lib the lies!
When they won't let you look, there's always something they're trying to hide.
We should all go line up and ask to see them.
You just have to keep stirring sh*t don’t you KF. You remind me of Gandalf: always wandering and meddling in affairs that don’t concern you.
You've got to be kidding !
That bunch actually maintains "minutes" ?
Don’t you have any lawyer friends fish? Go back with a lawyer. If they refuse file suit to make sure it’s posted. And charge them with lawyer fees and court costs. Or you could bend over and kiss their ass for it.
Longtime JJ readers already know how this will end. The boobs @ JMAA should pick up the phone and give Ed or Babs a call.
Smell fishy to me Kingfish! Sounds like there's so old fish scales in Leadership. That place got to be rotten!
Probably making them up as we type
The whole idea of JMAA is such a joke. They are the #1 cause for why that airport has NOT developed!
@9:01 Hahaha Let me guess, did someone wake you from your nap today?
King - who is the lawyer for the airport?
This is what happens when public officials are allowed to treat their office like personal property.
If you add up capital and operational spending how big is that pot of other peoples money these JMAA folks are in charge of?
“I was told it applied only to municipalities. It is hard to see how the A.G. will not rule it also applies to counties and agencies such as CMU and JMAA but ok, have it your way for today, shamus. They said it would be referred to legal counsel. . . . The law clearly states yours truly, as well as any citizen, has the right to look at those minutes and the attached documents accepted into the minutes during business hours under the Mississippi Code and that, my friends, is the bottom line.”
Sounds like you don’t have any “clear law” on your side kingfish. Sounds like all you have is an AG opinion WHICH IS NOT BINDING LAW, and which has some wiggle room for interpretation. As a lawyer, you know this. You said otherwise for your mostly non-lawyer audience anyway because you knew they might take the bait. What a shame.
And just file a FOIA request, Karen. I know you think you don’t have to, but it takes five minutes. My lord, what a hissy fit!
It's never a good look to hide the most basic of public documents. Even if there's nothing askew, it gives the appearance that all kinds of shenanigans are being covered up.
They must have been discussing their next junket to Paris. Those French hookers surely miss their free flowing Jackson taxpayer money.
Assuming you have poor reading comprehension skills and are not a troll, why don't you read the post again.
Before the opinion, I cited the Mississippi Code. THAT is the law. Period. The Code flat out says the minutes (and that includes ALL attachments to the minutes) are to be made immediately available to the public during business hours.
JMAA quit keeping hard copies of the minutes and keeps them on a computer in someone's office in the last couple of years. The opinion dealt with how minutes of stored, not their availability to the public.
I'm not filing a FOIA, period. They are going to comply with the law one way or another.
Under the Open Meetings Act, they have to provide immediate access to the minutes. Under the Public Records Act, they can take up to 14 business days to provide the records and charge a fee for providing them. Big difference. Big, huge difference.
@1106: guessing Walker law firm, an affiliate of B. Thompson
So what happens next? They didn't provide them, but the law says they are required to do so. Is JMAA above the law too?
"This is OUR airport"
KF
Maybe you should quit being a bitch?
It’s a scientific fact that people with RBF - resting bitch face - are denied public records requests 72.8% more times than someone who is not so afflicted.
Wear a mask and write your request down on paper and maybe they will comply with you.
Keep beclowining yourself Melvin. One day you will figure out your team sees you as we do.
Right on, KF! If they don't feel like following a certain law is something they are required to do; what other laws are they ignoring? Tax Laws, maybe? Employee rights laws? Purchasing laws? Hmmm?
Melvin's bloated sense of self and importance is only outmatched by his actual girth.
The good Senator was way ahead of his time on this issue. That airport is a joke and the "Board" is the punchline.
Minutes? We don’t need no stinking minutes.
I went today to get the minutes and had no problems receiving them! Did you go at a reasonable time? probably not.. lol
Mind your own business.
That's right. Start threatening me. That's been done before and didn't work.
KF, google has you site flagged as deceptive and malicious. I’m sure you already know, but just in case.
I have complete faith in the KF to get these shiteaters in line.
They need to learn the law DOES apply to them, particularly because they think it doesn't.
No journalist in all of Mississippi, bar none, has done more in the state over the last nearly 15 years than Kingfish to demand open records, transparency and accountability.
May 15, 2021 at 11:01 AM
+1,000,000
How much do each of the people in JMAA leadership make?
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