The Washington County Quorum Court got off to a bad start Thursday.
These representatives of the public declined to regulate their use of cell phones during their public meetings.
Court members voted 3-9 against a resolution sponsored by Justice of the Peace Bill Ussery, a returning member from Springdale, discouraging members' cell phone use during meetings.
The vote doesn't add up in numbers or in regard to common sense.
First, Washington County's court has 15 seats. One member, Eva Madison of Fayetteville, was absent for the organizational meeting. Another member resigned before the court could gather for the new term. That seat will be filled by appointment in February.
Now, where was the common sense in this refusal even to resolve not to use cell phones during public meetings?
Washington County taxpayers actually pay these representatives to attend these meetings and to conduct the public's business openly. Yet, a majority of court members contend they cannot, or should not, set their cell phones aside even for the time they are assembled together.
Ussery proposed the resolution at the request of County Judge Marilyn Edwards, who presides over the Quorum Court, and in response to a problem that surfaced in the last term of the court.
There was the strong suggestion that some court members then were using their cell phones to message each other during court meetings, presumably commenting on how other members were performing or on the business at hand.
That sort of communication could be a violation of the state's open-meetings law. It is, at the least, disrespectful of the judge and of anyone else on the court or in the audience who is not privy to the message. For the record, the greater audience includes any county constituent, present at the meeting or not, who might want to know how the county's business is conducted.
Edwards wanted to put a stop to nefarious cell phone practices as the court welcomed five new members and the rest of the justices again accepted the responsibilities of service.
Ussery agreed to introduce the measure. Ultimately, just two other members of the court, Ann Harbison and Butch Pond, both of whom represent largely rural districts, voted with him.
The rest apparently think it perfectly all right to let their cell phones distract them from the county's business or even to do a little of the county's business by text messaging.
We could get into a lecture about the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act here, but these justices of the peace know what the law is and they know what their responsibilities are under it.
County Attorney Steve Zega told them again at that same meeting.
Public representatives should want to comply with the law and to avoid any appearance that they might not be.
For anyone who doesn't know about the Arkansas FOI Act, it is intended to guarantee members of the public access to the meetings and records of government. The people have a right to know what their government is doing and those in government who violate the law may even be subject to criminal penalties.
The officials' own consciences should guide them in the day-to-day performance of their public responsibilities. They asked to be public representatives and they should welcome the thousands of county residents into the process, accepting the oversight the FOI Act allows.
Electronic conversations, done through texts or other means, leave the wrong impression. They may or may not be legal, but they certainly are not necessary to what's happening in a public meeting.
The impression court members are leaving is that they exclude, rather than include, the public at a time when the public's business is supposed to be the priority.
Some of the court members excuse this behavior because they say they have work and life concerns that can't wait for a meeting to end. We lived without cell phones and instant communications for many, many years. Court members should be able to survive a Quorum Court meeting, or at least wait for a break, before answering a call.
So here's a suggestion that goes a step further than just resolving to do right, which is what they court refused to do last week.
Turn those cell phones over to the security officer at court meetings with instructions to answer any calls and inform the caller that the owner is unavailable except in the case of emergency.
No one will miss an emergency call and they can give the public's business the attention it deserves and in the open manner required by law.
Editor's note: Blagg, a member of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Coalition and long-time advocate for government transparency, addressed the Quorum Court briefly at Judge Edwards' request, at the start of the organizational meeting.
Brenda Blagg is a freelance columnist and longtime journalist in Northwest Arkansas. Email her at [email protected].
Commentary on 01/18/2015