NATCHEZ — Adams County supervisors attended a workshop about the Open Meetings Act Wednesday at the Mississippi Association of Supervisors midwinter conference.

The conference was Monday-Wednesday in Jackson and included a variety of meetings for supervisors and county employees from across the state.

Adams County Board of Supervisors President Darryl Grennell said Ethics Commission Director Tom Hood led one of the most interesting meetings he attended.

“Basically (Hood) gave us a workshop on what do you do in terms of meetings,” Grennell said.

Board members must explain reasons why they are entering executive session, “as much as possible,” Grennell said, recalling Hood’s instructions.

“(The board must) inform the public why (an issue) qualifies under personnel and why it qualifies under litigation,” Grennell said.

Hood offered an example for an executive session involving litigation, Grennell said.

“For example, if (the board is) going into executive session to discuss a lawsuit, they can state what case it is in court without going into details of it,” Grennell said.

Grennell said if the board enters into a closed session for personnel reasons, they must state why the issue is personnel.

Grennell said Hood also addressed the subject of allowing supervisors to participate in meetings via videoconference or telephone.

The state passed a law years ago allowing supervisors to participate technologically if unable to attend in person, but locals boards must adopt the rule before using it.

The board member must participate in a way that makes his communications open to the public, however, Grennell said.

“If one member is not able to be here (he or she) can actually participate on speakerphone, so public can hear his comments or participation,” Grennell said.

Grennell has already asked County Attorney Bobby Cox to present the new law in front of the board, he said.

Grennell said the law benefits the board by allowing members to continue representing their district even if they are in the hospital, for instance.

“That was a major experience for me to listen to that presentation of (Hood) from ethics commission,” Grennell said.

Ross Campbell from the state auditor’s office also spoke, Grennell said.

Grennell said it was interesting to learn from Campbell about the importance of labeling county property for inventory purposes.

All county-owned property, including vehicles, must be properly marked as belonging to Adams County with large, clear letters, Grennell said.

The only vehicles exempt from the clear, large lettering are undercover police cars. And the sheriff must request approval from the board to keep an undercover car unmarked, Grennell said.

District 5 Supervisor S.E. “Spanky” Felter said the biggest message he received at the conference was a warning to budget wisely.

“They were talking about the state being in a $600 million deficit, and counties need to tighten their belts and watch their spending,” Felter said.

Felter said he appreciated the honest warning.

“It’s good to hear them say that. That way you will watch your spending,” Felter said.

“It looks like we’re coming out of (the recession), but its going to take a little while longer.”

Grennell said the conferences also provided a networking opportunity to talk with supervisors from other counties.

Grennell said he had productive conversations with supervisors of affected counties about saving the railroad line from Natchez to Brookhaven.

“The networking part is a major important aspect of (the conferences) because you learn so much from each other,” Grennell said.

Redistricting was unfortunately one item absent from the conference agenda, Grennell said.

“Redistricting, I was really, really disappointed (the topic was not discussed,)” Grennell said.

Grennell said locating experts on redistricting might have been difficult since it happens only every 10 years and rarely during an election year.

“Overall it was a very good conference.”

The only part that I was looking forward to that didn’t happen was redistricting,” Grennell said.