Council moves discussion of new member to Aug. 21 public meeting

Poplar Bluff City Council members have moved discussion of how to fill a vacant seat on the council to an open session meeting to be held Aug. 21.

The decision was made Monday, when the item was originally scheduled for a second closed session discussion and vote.

The council currently has six seated members after the resignation of an at-large council member due to personal issues. The council accepted letters of interest from the public, receiving seven for the position.

Council members interviewed those individuals in an Aug. 1 open meeting, before taking discussion and vote of the matter into closed session.

No votes to name someone to the seat were successful in that closed meeting and the item was scheduled again for the Monday closed meeting.

A motion was made Monday by at-large council member Mark Massingham and seconded by Ward 1 representative Lisa Parson to move the item to the Aug. 21 open session. It was approved 5-0, with Mayor Shane Cornman absent.

“I would like to make a motion that we, if appropriate, table the selection of the next council member to open session at the next council meeting,” Massingham said.

Prior to making his motion, Massingham questioned an editorial about the subject which ran in the Saturday edition of the Daily American Republic, and also offered praise for city attorney Mark Richardson.

In Saturday’s editorial, the DAR expressed concern over the council’s decision to hold a closed session meeting on the selection of a new council member, rather than an open session meeting.

“I think what really upset me reading the article, it says, ‘the Daily American Republic reached out to officials Tuesday in advance of the meeting and expressed concern that closed session and vote would violate Missouri Sunshine law... The council chose to move forward with the closed meeting,’ which is true, ‘and city officials declined Wednesday to offer further explanation...’

“... It sounds like the newspaper contacted each of the council members, and I realize they contacted city hall, but I never was contacted... That’s definitely the way people read this and I just want the public to know the council members were not contacted on this issue.”

The Daily American Republic reached out to city manager Matt Winters shortly before 2:30 p.m. Aug. 1 to question if the item would be handled in the open or closed session, and spoke with Winters on the phone at his earliest convenience, around 4 p.m. Aug. 1. The open meeting began at 6 p.m. Staff conferred with Missouri Press attorney Jean Maneke during the afternoon, as information was made available from the city, and shared Maneke’s response with Winters at the end of public meeting, prior to the start of the closed session, around 7:20 p.m. Aug. 1. Maneke’s response cited case law in support of the matter being an open session item and was printed in a Thursday article and the Saturday editorial.

Massingham confirmed Monday he was made aware of the Sunshine Law question by Winters at the end of the open session and prior to the start of closed session.

Winters said Tuesday he had conferred during the afternoon of Aug. 1 with city attorney Mark Richardson. He said some members of the council did discuss Sunshine Law concerns regarding the exemption prior to the start of the public meeting Aug. 1, but he could not recall which members.

He said Tuesday he couldn’t remember if he had ever shared the concerns with the entire group.

How items like this are discussed with the council varies depending on the situation, he said Tuesday. Sometimes he will speak with one or two people at a time in person, or send a text or an email.

Massingham also shared Monday that he has always supported Richardson’s opinions as city attorney.

“In my opinion, he’s one of the best legal minds in the state. He served as city attorney in the 1980s. He served as in the state legislature. He served as a circuit court judge. He’s served as city attorney for the last seven years,” Massingham said. “I respect his opinion. In the law and law cases, there’s always more opinion than you probably want to know.”