As she began to inform individuals of this travesty, she was informed of other incidents. So, she submitted a a sworn and notarized complaint to the Knox County Ethics Committee just a few weeks ago. In her complaint she alleged that the ethics violators were Dale Smith (CEO of PBA, the manager of the City and County Building) and Chair person of governing body.
Her sworn and notarized statement read: “Public Meetings Behind Locked Doors”
Wednesday, March 25 at 5:00 p.m. the Knox County Commission’s Redistricting Committee held a public meeting in the small assembly room of the city county building. Apparently many of the people attending the meeting had stayed from the prior BZA meeting that had just adjourned. An 80 year old neighbor and myself tried to enter the City County Building at the Main Street entrance, but the revolving door and the side doors were locked. We stood out in the rain until someone finally let us in the building.
Tuesday, March 30 at 5:30 p.m. the Task Force for Transfer of Development Rights held a public meeting in the large assembly room. Again, I found the doors locked!
Tennessee Open Meetings Act – Tennessee Code Annotated8-44-102 (a) “All meetings of any governing body are declared to be public meetings open to the public at all times, except as provided by the Constitution of Tennessee.”
The public was essentially locked out of public meetings because of a lack of oversight by the Public Building Authority.
Full access to government meetings and activities is what makes a democratic republic effective, but is also required by the law.
In talking to others about these two incidents when PBA did not have staff/security to open doors is not an isolated incident.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008 – Forum to hear from County Commission candidates in the Main Assembly room of the City County Building for the 6th, 8th, and 9th districts. A woman, Brenda Smith tried to get into the City County Building for the public meeting and found all the doors locked as she was late; however, the public meeting was going on behind locked doors. (Brenda Smith, XXX-XXXX) We blocked out Brenda Smith’s personal information.
Apparently, some people have arrived late to MPC meetings and found no access to the City-County Building for the general public. A woman who had attended the BZA meeting on Wednesday, March 25th and subsequently attended the redistricting meeting last week explained this to me.
A closed meeting is a meeting from which the public is excluded. While PBA may say that these instances result from a lack of oversight; the result is government bodies or members of any public body which consists of two (2) or more members, with the authority to make decision for or recommendations to a public body on policy or administration violate the Tennessee Open Meetings Act. It is apparent that a meeting held behind locked doors is one from which the public is excluded physically and therefore is a closed meeting by definition.
I would think that the chairperson of the public body meeting at the City County Building would be responsible for informing PBA of public meetings held at the City-County Building. Then PBA would be responsible for having a security guard at the door throughout the entire public meeting.” This concluded Victoria DeFreese’s complaint.
Former Commissioner DeFreese then received this response from Dr. Ron Stewart, Chairman of Knox County Ethics Committee
Cc: Mr. Dale Smith
“After reviewing your complaint to the Ethics Committee, and after counsel with the Knox County Law Director and Mr. Dale Smith, it is my judgment that the doors being locked were the result of an oversight and not an ethics violation. I will send a copy of this letter to Mr. Dale Smith at the Public Building Authority and encourage them to monitor meetings later in the day so that these oversights will not happen again in the future.
Sincerely, Dr. Ron Stewart – This concludes Dr. Stewart’s response.
Many questions now arise.
2. What authority does the chair have?
4. What should citizens do to help with a proper and fair Knox County Ethics Committee?
