Newspaper to file complaint that agency violated Sunshine Law

Newspaper to file complaint that agency violated Sunshine Law

02/03/05 MICHELLE L. START Staff Writer Email this story to a friend

OCALA Officials with The Daily Commercial announced plans Wednesday to
file a grievance against Kids Central Inc. for violations
of the state’s Government in the Sunshine Law.

The complaint stems from a Wednesday-morning meeting with the
Department of Children and Families that was initially scheduled
to be held in Ocala, but was abruptly switched to Wildwood about 16
hours before the meeting was to begin.

“Clearly this agency does not want to cooperate with us, which is very
unfortunate,” said Managing Editor Rick Madewell. “We hate to
have to take it to this level, but the public has every right in the
world to know about these meetings with an acceptable amount of time
and they (KCI) are not helping the cause.”

The Sunshine Law requires “reasonable notice” for all meetings, and
the state Attorney General’s Office has cited 24 hours notice as
reasonable for an emergency meeting.

“The courts define notice as the amount of time that would enable a
member of the public to have a reasonable opportunity to
attend,” said Florida Press Attorney Sam Morley. “If an agency is
subject to a statutory notice requirement like the Administrative
Procedures Act (s. 120.525) for its board meetings, then you have to
comply with those requirements. In this case, if the meetings are
with the DCF staff (rather than a state board) and the private
entities, the standard would probably be ‘reasonable notice’ for
Sunshine
Law purposes.”

Sara Brady, spokeswoman for Kids Central, said the agency is privately
owned and therefore does not have to adhere to the
Sunshine Laws.

Morley said that because Kids Central is a private company that has
taken over services that would otherwise be handled by a
government entity, the laws are actually stricter.

“This raises in my mind the issue of whether this is in fact a public
meeting of an agency board, which would trigger the seven-day
requirement,” he said.

That would mean Kids Central would have to advertise meetings seven
days in advance and would have to list the general subject
matter to be considered during any meeting. It would also require the
agency to have an agenda prepared prior to that seven day
period so the public could obtain a copy.

Officials with Kids Central on Tuesday said no agenda was available
for Wednesday’s meeting.

At 5:15 p. m. Tuesday, a spokeswoman with Kids Central called the
newspaper to say the location had been changed. The meeting
began at 9 a. m. Wednesday.

At a board meeting that ended around 2:30 p. m. Tuesday, officials
with Kids Central said the meeting was still scheduled to be held
in Ocala. By 6 p. m. Tuesday, the Kids Central Web site also still
said the meeting was scheduled for Ocala.

“I would argue that changing the meeting location at 6 p. m. and
calling the media does not constitute public notice,” said Barbara
Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation. “They are
certainly not providing the public with the opportunity to enjoy the
constitutional amendment of oversight.”

Madewell contends that 16 hours advance notice was not sufficient to
notify the public, particularly since the announcement was
made after closing time and no one was available for confirmation.

“We didn’t change the time,” said board Chairwoman Irene Rickus. “It
was a misunderstanding. We assumed it would be in Ocala.
The department thought it would be over here (in Wildwood).”

DCF District Administrator Don Thomas said he thought the meeting was
always supposed to be in Wildwood, but when he learned
of the misunderstanding, he insisted upon it.

“There was a mix-up as to where it should be,” he said. “I didn’t have
to notice the meeting because I am not on a board.”

Wednesday’s meeting change was not the first time the agency violated
the spirit of the Sunshine Law. The Web site was updated to
show Tuesday’s 1 p. m. meeting shortly after 1 p. m. Monday, less than
the 24 hours cited by the Attorney General as “reasonable
time” and six days less than the legal requirements under the
Administrative Procedures Act.

A meeting held on Friday to discuss whether the agency planned to
disband was not advertised until three days beforehand. It was
rescheduled from Jan. 24 but not advertised until Jan. 25.
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