The Athens City Council has made some moves that appear to limit citizens’ ability to question or comment on what transpires at the council meetings.
At the Monday, November 25, City Council meeting, Mayor Ronnie Marks shut off the video recording of the meeting before the public comments portion began. How meetings are conducted is dictated by the council and at the sitting mayor’s discretion.
The Alabama Open Meeting Act (2005-40) only requires local municipalities to be transparent about these changes and communicate them to the public clearly.
One Athens resident emailed Mayor Marks on the matter and received the following response:
“Thanks for your email,” Marks said in his response. “As you are aware, Council meetings are the Legislative process of city government. They are intended to address the business that requires Council/Legislative action or address updates from the administration. During COVID, I authorized the City to begin ‘live streaming’ to keep our residents informed about the business of Athens. Although it is not a requirement, we will always honor citizens the opportunity to speak to Administration and Council Members during the time allocated as ‘Reading of Petitions, Applications, Complaints, Appeals, etc’… This time is not a part of the business meeting so I told our IT staff to stop the ‘live stream’ at the end of the Council’s business meeting. At this time, I do not have plans to start it back….stay safe”
As of this writing, the City of Athens website does not show any statement about this change.
Prior to that, around September, the administrator of the City of Athens Facebook page also chose to close comments on a post where citizens raised concerns about the questionable business dealings of one of the council members. After that post was closed down, the citizens continued to seek redress regarding this matter on other posts on the page, so the page administrator closed off all comments.
On November 27, Athens resident Jarrod Schulte emailed certain council members and citizens about a public records matter that was discussed at the November 25 meeting, as well as the lack of transparency exhibited by the Council in its dealings with the public. Schulte forwarded this correspondence to 1819 News.
Schulte said, in part, “If you do not respond to emails, you won’t engage at council meetings, you turn off the video on public comments, turn off comments on the city Facebook page how are you to constituents able to communicate with you? It appears you are wanting to silence anyone who doesn’t agree with you or questions anything!”
The Alabama Open Meetings Act, which replaced the old “Sunshine Law,” intends to provide the media and the public with greater access to state and local governments. Alabama’s citizens should have open access to agencies, boards, commissions and any other government body that conducts business on behalf of the people. Should the agency in question choose to do the minimum required by law, constituents of any municipality have options under Section 6 of the act:
“Section 6. A meeting of a governmental body, except while in executive session, may be openly recorded by any person in attendance by means of a tape recorder or any other means of sonic, photographic, or video reproduction provided the recording does not disrupt the conduct of the meeting. The governmental body may adopt reasonable rules for the implementation of this section.”
Along with Alabama law affording the citizen the right to know what transpires in public meetings of its municipal officers, it also gives them the right to record said meetings, including the comments of other citizens.
The video exposure this summer of council members dismissing citizens’ concerns over the Haitian migrant influx in Sylacauga, Athens and other cities and counties made an impact locally and even nationally.
1819 News has covered council meetings throughout the state and documented citizens fighting to have their voices heard by their local representatives. With city agencies actively choosing to limit their meetings to working hours where the majority of residents are unable to attend, video coverage of these meetings continues to offer the only means of transparency for all Alabamians.
Jennifer Oliver O’Connell, As the Girl Turns, is an investigative journalist, author, opinion analyst, and contributor to 1819 News, Redstate, and other publications. Jennifer writes on Politics and Pop Culture, with occasional detours into Reinvention, Yoga, and Food. You can read more about Jennifer’s world at her As the Girl Turns website. You can also follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram.
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