“A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to Farce or Tragedy or perhaps both.

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.”

James Madison wrote that back at the time our country was wrestling with how to govern itself. In this spirit of Madison, the Mississippi Legislature passed the Open Meetings Act a generation ago.

In the first lines of the Open Meetings Act, the Legislature declared “[i]t being essential to the fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of representative government and to the maintenance of a democratic society that public business be performed in an open and public manner, and that citizens be advised of and be aware of the performance of public officials and the deliberations and decisions that go into the making of public policy, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the State of Mississippi that the formation and determination of public policy is public business and shall be conducted at open meetings except as otherwise provided herein.”

Six companies submitted proposals to provide garbage collection services for Natchez. The aldermen recently reviewed those proposals to choose one company to negotiate further with for the contract.

Unfortunately, the aldermen have taken the position that citizens of Natchez had no right to observe the board’s discussions of the proposals.

Last week, after the public was excluded from the board’s initial discussions of the proposals, The Natchez Democrat filed a complaint with the Mississippi Ethics commission.

The next day, I filed a similar complaint on behalf of a number of local citizens. Even with these complaints pending before the Ethics Commission, the aldermen voted on Monday to again exclude the public from their garbage deliberations.

It can be expected that another complaint to the Ethics Commission will follow this latest unlawful act by the Board. The Mississippi Supreme Court has stated clearly, on numerous occasions, that the Open Meetings Act provides the only allowable justification for excluding the public from a governmental meeting. None of the statutory exceptions apply to the garbage contract proposals.

The last contract for waste hauling was worth nearly $1 million per year; it can reasonably be anticipated that the new contract will be at least as expensive.

Garbage collection is a vital service; regrettably, the choice of garbage haulers is being made in darkness, as opposed to the clear light of day. The aldermen argue they would lose leverage in the selection and pricing of a garbage contract if their discussions were public.

While this may be true, that is not a lawful exception to the Open Meetings Act. Anticipating the city’s argument, the Mississippi Supreme Court has stated: “This Court acknowledges that openness in sensitive areas is sometimes unpleasant or difficult or competitive and sometimes harmful. Nevertheless, in a democratic society the public’s business must be open to maintain the public’s confidence in its officials, to make intelligent judgments, and to select good representatives.

“The right of the public to be present… during all phases of enactments by boards and commissions is a source of strength in our country. …Terms such as managed news, secret meetings, closed records, executive sessions and study sessions have become synonymous with “hank panky” in the minds of public-spirited citizens. … Regardless of their good intentions, these specified boards and commissions, through devious ways, should not be allowed to deprive the public of this inalienable right to be present…at all deliberations wherein decisions affecting the public are being made,” Board of Trustees v. Mississippi Publishers Corporation, Oct. 2, 1985; 478 So.2d 269.

Paul Sullivan is an attorney at law practicing in Natchez.