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Mississippi: The Secret State  

Mississippi open-government laws full of exemptions that allow secrecy

By CHARLIE MITCHELL
VICKSBURG POST

VICKSBURG --

Put 10 Mississippi government officials or commission appointees in a room and it would be interesting to hear their answers to a quiz on what constitutes a "personnel matter," probably the most often invoked exception to state's open meetings act.

For instance, if a city council meets to set police department salaries, is that a proper subject for a closed session?

If a county board meets to write a new job description for a road manager, is that a personnel matter under the code?

The answer to both is no.

Section 25-41-7 (4)(a) of Mississippi law narrows the legal definition of personnel matter to "relating to the job performance, character, professional competence or physical or mental health of a person holding a specific position."

Attorney Katherine Kerby of Columbus has 25 years' experience providing counsel to dozens of government clients. She's also chairwoman of the Mississippi Bar's section on government law. Her own view is that Mississippi Open Meetings and Public Records acts are "simple and straightforward," yet she concedes "there are frequent problematic areas."

Indeed. A search of the Mississippi attorney general's Web site returns 100 opinions containing the words "personnel matter."

Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, has earned a reputation for speaking his mind during his six terms at the state Capitol.

He says the Legislature, in the 1981 Open Meetings Act and the 1983 Public Records Act made it clear: "Open means open; public means public."

Yet enforcement of the act is up to citizens. Unlike when other laws are broken, there is no one, no agency to phone to take action on the public's behalf, and, almost annually, the Legislature has adopted more and more exceptions.

In 2006, for example, the Legislature passed a bill to authorize drug and alcohol testing by game agents after hunting accidents.

That was the title and stated purpose of the bill, but tucked in it was a provision that appeared to flatly exempt all hunting accident reports, which had always been public, from the Public Records Act.

A few years earlier in a bill dealing with funding for county emergency dispatch centers, the Legislature, with no discussion or debate, exempted all 911 records of any type - budget, payroll, log books, tapes - from disclosure. In a single act, the lawmakers made 911 centers more secretive than the CIA, KGB or the Mississippi Legislature itself.

"As a practical matter, that stuff's being passed without legislators being aware of it," Bryan said. "We're all chasing a lot of different things."