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Currituck Board Members Violate Open Meetings Law

Group takes junket to tour Va Port Authority

by John H. Snowden, III
Publisher / Editor

An unadvertised trip taken Monday, January 14, 2008 by three members of the Currituck Board of Commissioners apparently violated public notification requirements of the North Carolina open meetings law.

Commissioners Gene Gregory, Owen Etheridge and Barry Nelms, along with County Manager Dan Scanlon, Economic Development Director Peter Bishop, County Engineer Eric Weatherly, and County Planning Director Ben Woody visited the Virginia Port Authority on business of an unspecified nature on Monday.

According to David Lawrence, the authority on NC Public Meeting Laws with the UNC Institute of Government, such a trip or meeting which includes a quorom or majority of the County Board of Commissioners must be properly advertised to allow public knowledge of the meeting.

The Independent was notified of the meeting on Tuesday by an unnamed source.  When questioned about the meeting, Gwen Keene - Currituck County’s Clerk to the Board of Commissioners - accepted blame for failure to adequately advertise the meeting.

According to Keene, Board members had discussed the meeting as early as last week - which would have allowed ample time for advertising in local newspapers, as required by NC Public Meeting Law.

Commissioner Janet Taylor, who was not in attendance at the meeting, acknowledged Tuesday that she had been asked to attend the meeting.

Taylor indicated that she could not attend due to prior business committment.

It is unknown whether Commissioner Ernie Bowden had knowledge of the meeting / trip.

Commissioner Etheridge issued the following statement via email:

“Last year Currituck Commissioners and staff reviewed the requirements of the Open Meetings Law after learning a trip to the legislature required public notice. It was my understanding and expectation Currituck would be in full compliance on all occassions a majority of Commissioners met in the future. I was discouraged to learn when three Commissioners recently toured the Virginia Port Authority the occassion was not advertised by staff. I would once again reiterate my expectation that Currituck lead by example, without exception, to fully comply with NC’s Open Meetings laws.”

In a telephone interview earlier today, Etheridge made no apologies for this lapse on the part of the County, stating that he assumed the meeting had been appropriately advertised.

In early March of 2007, Currituck Board of Commissioners Chairman Barry Nelms, Vice Chair Gene Gregory, Commissioner Owen Etheridge, County Manager Dan Scanlon and County Engineer Eric Weatherly took a similar trip to Raleigh to meet with Representative W.C. “Bill” Owens, and Senator Marc Basnight to discuss legislative goals for the county.

This March 2007 meeting, like the recent one to the Virginia Port Authority was not advertised to the public.

The Independent brought this to the attention of Scanlon - the County Manager - via email, to which his response in an email dated March 16, 2007 was: “This issue [meeting without proper notice] has just been brought to our attention. Gwen has contacted David Lawrence and yes, we should have advertised this meeting. To my knowledge, Currituck County has never advertised these trips to meet with our local legislative delegation and I do not really recall ever reading an advertisement from any other jurisdiction that has done the same. I know ignorance of the law is not a defense and we will from this point forward properly advertise our trips pursuant to the requirements of the Open Meetings Law.”

According to Lawrence, one remedy for this type of continuing breach of the Public Meeting law is for an individual or concerned party to seek a court injunction against this type of future behavior. Lawrence elaborated that this type action would be filed as a Civil Suit in Currituck Superior Court. Upon hearing the merits of the case, the judge would rule either that the plaintiff has no grounds for the injunction or that the defendant - in this case Currituck County - had in fact violated the law. Should the court find that Currituck County had violated the law, the judge would issue an injunction barring Currituck County from repeating this type of behavior. In the event that the law is violated after the injunction, County officials could face fines or possible jail times depending on the disposition of the Court.

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© 2008 NE NC News.