Learn about our Sunshine Law at upcoming Trenton meeting

How much do you know about your right to attend meetings of public officials and to see records held in public offices?

If you’re interested in learning more about Missouri’s Open Meetings/Open Records Law — the Sunshine Law — you’ll have a chance to do so soon.

At 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 16, the Trenton Republican-Times will host an informational meeting in the Ketcham Community Center on the NCMC campus in Trenton. This is one of 19 meetings held throughout the state, sponsored by the Missouri Press Association and Missouri Press Foundation.

“By providing these sessions, we hope to eliminate some of the misconceptions about the Sunshine Law,” says Bill Miller, publisher of The Washington Missourian and current president of the Missouri Press Association. “Missouri’s Sunshine Law is more than 25 years old, yet many citizens and elected officials don’t understand what it’s for.”

The law requires meetings of public bodies to be open and that official records be accessible to the public. Some exceptions to the law are allowed, but the exceptions often are misunderstood or applied more broadly than intended or allowed.

The preface to the Sunshine Law states that it is the public policy of Missouri that meetings and records are open, and that exceptions are narrow.

This series of meetings is being held to help explain the Sunshine Law to public officials, citizens and newspaper people. It will address issues related to records held by public agencies and to meetings held by public officials.

In many instances where local officials have been accused of holding illegal meetings, they cite ignorance of the Sunshine Law. Agendas of public meetings being held all over the state contain an entry like “Executive Session.” Constituents of those public agencies may never know what is discussed in those closed meetings.

State Auditor Claire McCaskill last year conducted an experiment. She sent anonymous requests for public records to 214 public governmental bodies selected at random from around the state. Of those, 102 agencies violated the law by failing to provide the requested records — including some agencies here in Daviess County.

“The series of meetings is being held in an effort to increase understanding of the Sunshine Law among citizens and public officials,” says Doug Crews, executive director of the press association. “The intent is to inform rather than to instigate.”

Jean Maneke, the legal counselor for MPA, will explain the Open Meetings/Open Records Law during the sessions, answer questions and distribute copies of the law. The meeting will last about two hours.

Free copies of the Sunshine Law, including explanations and court rulings, will be available at the meetings. People who want to review the Sunshine Law can go to the website of the Attorney General’s Office at ago.state.mo.us/sunintro.htm.

Missouri Press Association, founded in 1867 and based in Columbia, is the trade association for newspapers in Missouri. Its membership includes the Gallatin North Missourian and nearly every newspaper in the state.