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No action taken over Starkville ethics violation

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By: 
Austin Montgomery
City Reporter

Starkville aldermen violated the Open Meetings Act in Jan. 2015 following an executive session meeting relating to a city employee's job performance and possible misuse of city funds, according to a preliminary report by the Mississippi Ethics Commission.

The complaint was not discussed at Tuesday's meeting, and no action was taken. A board order would need to be filed for the city to formally object to the violation.

Aldermen would need to hold a special-call meeting to respond to the MEC ruling.

The preliminary report claims Starkville aldermen violated the OMA related to executive session meetings last year.

The violation on Jan. 6, 2015, occurred after the board went into executive session to discuss the job performance of Starkville Parks and Recreation Department Director Herman Peters over whether the parks director had "mismanaged city funds," according to the preliminary report.

SPR was a private entity run by the Parks Commission—not the city—during the violation.

The initial report claims the OMA violation occurred because SPR was operating as an independent department.

"The board could not enter into executive session to discuss the management of city funds by the parks director pursuant to the personnel matters exceptions the board utilized," the report said.

But the preliminary report noted the motion to enter into executive session was made based upon "the good-faith belief" that the personnel matters exceptions applied to the board's discussion and shows no evidence of "bad faith on the part of the board," while still citing an OMA violation occurred.

No penalty is listed for the executive session violation. A June 15 hearing date could be held at MEC offices in Jackson if either side challenges.

The complainant, former Starkville Chief Administrative Officer Lynn Spruill, and city defendant, City Attorney Chris Latimer could both challenge the ruling within a five day period, the preliminary report said.

In her initial complaint, Spruill claimed aldermen used the discussion of personnel issues improperly to avoid public insight into a then-financially strained department. The department was taken over by the city last year after the department incurred a six-figure, unpaid utilities bill.

The city's defense claimed the executive session matter only related to Peters' job performance and dismissed Spruill's complaint for failing to prove any violation occurred. The defense also noted Spruill as being an outspoken critic of her former employer.

Spruill filed three other complaints against the board's resolution to offer and later repeal insurance benefits for LGBT city employees, before the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in 2015.

The MEC preliminary report recommended the three other complaints be dismissed.

A final order on the violation has not been issued.

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