Council member Johnson said, “If the mayor is included in the governing body which I don’t think he is, but if it is decided he is included, then we violated the Open Meeting Act. The Act states that you can’t have a majority of the governing body present to discuss city business but when you look at the state law that forms our city government, it states that the council is the governing body. A decision needs to be made to determine if the mayor is a member of the governing body or not. Regardless of how I feel about the issue, if the experts say the mayor is a member of the governing body, then I am guilty. I have always followed the law that establishes our form of government when attending meetings. For example, at a regularly called council meeting and if only the mayor and four council member show up, they cannot hold the meeting because it takes five council members to make a quorum."
Johnson further stated, "Again, if it is determined that the mayor is a member of the governing body, I am also guilty of violating the Open Meeting Act on January 22 because the mayor, Jack Smiley, Scot Simco and Rick Henry and myself attended a meeting with the Chinese who visited Altus. The Chinese were visiting to look at the old QMA building to see if it was suitable to assemble wind turbines. At the meeting the mayor, city administrator and the four council members were introduced as city officials. We briefed the Chinese, had welcome packets for them, they toured the facility and we had lunch with them. It was not just a meet and greet function, it was a meeting to try and get the Chinese to move their company to Altus – that is city business. Jack Smiley even flew the group to Altus and on to Texas following their visit.”
*The Altus Times has spoken with the Attorney General's office regarding the Open Meeting Act and its applications in this case. Their media relations specialist referred us to the Oklahoma Municipal League (OML) for germane information. The OML had not returned our calls as of press time.
Principally, the Times wishes to know whether the mayor in the Aldermanic form of government is included in the public body, or in our case, the City Council.
Secondly, Council member Johnson has raised another question. Because the Jan. 22 meeting (referenced above) was called by the Economic Development Commission, one of the Altus Times' questions for OML concerns the scope of the Open Meeting Act. If a required number of council members (whatever that number is) is present at a community function, and a city issue arises in conversation, regardless of whether it is on the agenda for the next meeting or not, has a violation of the Open Meeting Act occurred?
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