Behind closed doors

LUKE CONNELL, and LANE FILLER

When elected officials go behind closed doors, they might be talking about a topic that's supposed to be discussed in public.

A new statewide survey shows that a quarter of elected officials have broken state law by straying beyond what they promised the public they would discuss while out of sight and earshot.

Nearly 200 county council and school board members responded to the 13-question survey. The survey is not a poll or a scientific sampling that would suggest what the typical public official would do, but it does reflect how participants say they handle the privilege state law grants them to discuss some of the public's business in private.

Locally, executive sessions are common for elected bodies -- though some head behind closed doors more often than others.

Spartanburg County Council has called five executive sessions so far this year out of 11 meetings. In the past six months, Spartanburg City Council has convened 13 meetings, and executive sessions were scheduled for seven of them.

While elected officials from both groups deny voting in closed session, some said conversations can move off their posted track once the public's business is moved into private.

Spartanburg Mayor Bill Barnet said, "I think conversations do migrate a bit, it's inevitable, but then we quash it. As for voting, no, I've never been in an executive session where a vote was taken, but you certainly see a consensus form or find out where people stand on issues through discussion."

City Manager Mark Scott said the city's use of executive sessions doesn't compare to his last posting in Beverly Hills, Calif.

"We don't do one percent of what Beverly Hills did in closed session," Scott said. "I spent longer in executive session in one meeting there than I have in all my council meetings combined here."

Scott said City Attorney Spencer King is responsible for keeping the sessions on point and does a good job.

Councilwoman Linda Dogan, who has served on council for 12 years and was recently elected to a fourth term, said city officials are better than they have been in the past about their conduct in executive sessions.

"We do a very good job of staying on point now, and I think that's because when I first came on, there was a problem," Dogan said. "I know there was a situation where a vote was sort of taken in executive session, and it caused a lot of trouble."

At the body's Oct. 10 meeting, Barnet moved that council go into executive session, and then appeared flustered when a Herald-Journal reporter asked him to justify the session.

The mayor first responded by saying the session pertained to a legal matter, and when pressed to be more specific, cited lawsuits related to the Renaissance Park Project.

Spartanburg County Council also may have wandered off topic in the past while behind closed doors.

In responding to the survey taken earlier this year, Spartanburg County Council Chairman Jeff Horton and Councilman David Britt differed on whether the governing group has ever discussed something behind closed doors that wasn't expressed to the public beforehand.

A 16-year member of County Council, Britt said he's sure the group has occasionally wandered off a posted topic, but he didn't think the group had ever deliberately failed to comply with the Freedom of Information Act.

Horton, who has been on the council since 1995, said he didn't believe he had ever participated in an executive session where a topic other than the one specified was discussed.

Both Horton and Britt said members cannot take a poll or vote while in executive session, but both also said that they believe other councils do make decisions behind closed doors.

"I disagree," Britt said, "but it happens."

Several members of local area school boards said they have been privy to closed-door discussions that ran off topic.

Ola Copeland, a trustee on the board of Cherokee County Schools, said she hasn't participated in such a discussion recently.

Sometimes trustees have to be reeled back to the posted topic of discussion, Copeland said while answering the survey.

"Years ago it happened," she said. "And I don't recall the specifics. I think one person would go off on a different topic other than the one we were supposed to be discussing. We had to tow them back in."

Lindley Auton, vice chairwoman of the board of Cherokee County Schools, agreed that board members aren't allowed to vote or poll on an issue in executive session.

But she said the group hasn't always followed that law.

"We have polled informally before returning to open session," Auton said.

The law

The law is straightforward on closed-door sessions. It allows executive sessions for very limited purposes, such as discussing why a specific employee lost a job or how to lure an economic development project.

The law also says public bodies have to vote in open session on the specific reason they're going behind closed doors. Any other voting they do has to wait until they return to public view.

No matter. Public bodies routinely usher out taxpayers by merely saying they're going to discuss "personnel issues" or a "legal matter," offering no details underlying those broad labels.

State Attorney General Henry McMaster said public bodies must be specific.

The public needs "to know the issues that are being handled in executive session," McMaster said. It's part of building and keeping citizens' trust, he said.

If officials break that trust, "the public loses all confidence in the public body," McMaster said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Luke Connell can be reached at 562-7219 or luke.connell@shj.com.