A meeting conundrum

GARLAND—Although some members of the Garland town board say they believe strongly in open, transparent, and public meetings, it didn’t look that way Tuesday night.

A quorum of the board was seen huddled together in the foyer of the town hall discussing town business before Tuesday night’s meeting, then the board, without an attorney present, closed the door to the public without citing a reason for doing so, and, according to some board members, discussed matters that were not legal reasons to hole up behind those doors.

According to the N.C. Open Meetings Law, an official meeting is any simultaneous communication — in person or via technology —“by a majority of the members of a public body for the purpose of deliberating on public business, voting upon or otherwise transacting the public business…official meetings as defined may well include gatherings that the members of the public body do not normally consider a meeting.” There are five members on the Garland town board, so three gathered and discussing town business constitutes a quorum of the board.

Further, the Open Meetings Law notes that boards can only shut the door to the public for seven very specific reasons, and before doing so they must state the general statute which allows them to do so. Reasons for closed sessions include: attorney-client privilege, confidential and privileged information, real estate acquisition, industry/business expansion, specific personnel and employee issues. Boards, for example, cannot hold closed door discussions about a pay study or pay range, nor normal town business.

On Tuesday, at the end of the meeting, Garland’s board closed the door to the public without reason. Mayor Austin Brown actually made the motion to go into closed session without stating statute or cause. Upon returning from closed session, the board voted on one of the topics that was discussed — exempt verses non-exempt employees — saying town clerk Alyssa Hale should remain exempt. Discussing those differences is not a valid reason to hold a closed meeting, according to the law.

What’s more, some town board members, in an interview after the meeting, acknowledged that other topics were discussed during that closed session, including adding things to the agenda, which Commissioner Jo Strickland said could not be done. Strickland also said the exempt, non-exempt discussion was held behind closed doors.

“In my opinion, the closed session was about making town employees exempt or non-exempt … because we have two hourly employees and one salaried employee, and given the nature of that conversation, I didn’t think it should be closed session to start with. There are only certain things you can go into closed session for,” Strickland noted in an interview.

“It was not employee specific, it was town policy specific; that’s a totally different thing,” she added.

Commissioner Lee Carberry said in an interview that the board often goes into closed session for matters not within the legal statute, and he noted that some members have even suggested the Garland meetings be predominantly closed without the public’s presence.

Despite Strickland’s admonishments about following the law, during the open portion of Tuesday’s meeting, she brought up discussion about Hale, which wasn’t on the agenda but appeared to be employee specific. It was a discussion that brought heated comments among the board members, including Strickland, who was implying that Hale left the office at odd times and without notifying the public.

Pointing to finance on the agenda, Strickland began talking about the need to have more structured hours for Hale. “Now that we are down to one employee, we need to establish a routine or lunch time break so our citizens who want to pay their bills or transact business can.

Strickland implied that residents were coming to the town hall only to find the door locked and a sign up, with no one there.

Hale, seemingly irritated, snapped back at Strickland. “I don’t even take a lunch.” Hale said she only leaves for about 10 minutes to take the deposit to the bank and to drop mail at the post office, chores that take around 10 minutes.

Strickland was adamant that something needed to be done, and commissioners, now getting agitated, changed the subject in the middle of that discussion to board member Ralph Smith asking if the assistant clerk job had been posted. Colleague Anthony Norris said it had not, and Strickland continued harping on the establishment of a lunch hour.

“We have never had this problem before, and this town needs to know when you are going to the post office or the bank,” Strickland interjected.

At this point the mayor ask, “so we need to set a time?”

“For 10 minutes?” Hale asked.

“Yes,” Strickland said.

At this point town resident Connie Lee spoke up, saying “She’s a grown woman. You need to talk to her respectfully.”

“Excuse me,” Strickland asked, with Brown trying to bring the discussion back to the board.

Hale said nobody else complained about the 10-minute absence except Strickland.

More inaudible grumbling could be heard from the board and the audience, before Smith asked Hale if 2-2:30 would be a good time to leave.

“Let’s settle down,” Smith added. “This ain’t that hard. Post a note on the door.”

The board did not vote on the matter.

Before this discussion, commissioners argue about adding things to the agenda

At the start of the meeting, a motion was made to add items, with Smith commenting that he would only vote if they added permits and nothing more. “I feel like the more that we add while here at meetings makes the citizens think that we are hiding something, and I have nothing to hide,” Smith told his colleagues on the board.

The motion passed 3-2 to add two things to the agenda, with Smith and Strickland casting the opposing votes on the premise of not adding things to the agenda, with the board then moving to approve the previous month’s board minutes.

Helping Hands request

When the board moved on to public comment, they were first approached by Lee, representing Helping Hands Change Makers, a volunteer group that has raised funds at town recreation events. She made a formal funding request to the town with the board deciding not to comment on the request at that time. Second to speak was resident Sylvia Carter, who addressed her lack of support of the current town board, saying “this is a crying shame for the board to be constructed the way it is” talking about the voting practices of the town board and how things are conducted in town.

Also discussed during the meeting was an improper grave marking at the Garland Cemetery, information on the town’s water treatment facility and the cost of training employees. See more on those subjects in next week’s Sampson Independent.

The board then moved on to buildings and then a discussion on the grave markings, and then, yet again, members added another item to the agenda, this one by Commissioner Carberry about purchasing a Christmas tree for the town’s park or having one donated. Board members voted to pursue it, but Strickland abstained.