Attorney: Task force meetings require public notice

PANAMA CITY — Since it was created in June, the city’s Community Resource Center Task Force has met regularly, but those meetings aren’t always preceded with public notices.

Panama City Mayor Greg Brudnicki, in response to The News Herald’s repeated position that the meetings are public and must be noticed, has insisted they are not but agreed the city would do it anyway.

Last week’s meeting between the task force and the board of directors of the Panama City Rescue Mission, however, was not given public notice and now Jon Kaney, general counsel for the First Amendment Foundation, says that is a violation. Rowlett Bryant, the city’s attorney, however, says they are not.

“Failing to give notice renders the meeting a violation of Sunshine law, which at a minimum would declare the action taken null and void, and it’s really not debatable,” Kaney said, adding that case law and rulings are clear.

According to the Government-In-The-Sunshine Manual prepared by Florida’s Attorney General and published by that office, “advisory boards created pursuant to law or ordinance or otherwise established by public agencies are subject to the Sunshine Law, even though their recommendations are not binding upon the entities that create them.” It states it applies to advisory committees appointed by one public official or a board.

Bryant, though, said it is his understanding the meetings do not have to be publicly noticed as long as the City Commission is not bound to follow the committee’s recommendation and no more than one elected official sits on the board.

After the last meeting, the task force sent out a press release about what happened during that meeting and in subsequent conversations members of the task force confirmed no public meeting notice had been sent.

When contacted by The News Herald, Brudnicki, who is the only elected official on the task force, said there wasn’t a need to advertise the meeting because he was the only member of the City Commission there.

In light of Kaney’s opinion, Brudnicki said no agreements were reached during the meeting or action taken, other than the Rescue Mission board agreeing to allow Robert Marbut to tour its downtown location and Bethel Village location in Springfield to see how they are operated and make suggestions about improvements. The task force is bringing Marbut to Panama City in early January. He has studied homelessness across the country, and he helped St. Petersburg with its Safe Harbor facility.

“All that was was a get to know you situation, to extend an invitation to attend the functions that Marbut’s going to speaking at. There was nothing decided,” he said.

Although The News Herald has raised the public notice issue twice, Brudnicki said he had not consulted the city attorney about it.

Brudnicki said he contacted task force chairwoman Emily Dowdy and directed her to make sure public notices were posted before all task force meetings.

“I figured that if there’s any question one way or another we’ll just do it,” he said after being told about Kaney’s statement.