City attorney says Winter Park may have violated Sunshine laws

Has Winter Park been violating the Sunshine law?

The Winter Park City Commission took a long hard look at how they pursue funding and support in Tallahassee on Monday as it considered a resolution asking the state to allow local government bodies to travel as a group to the state capital – something the Commission had already been doing for years.

The resolution stemmed from a discussion during the Jan. 11 City Commission meeting when newly appointed City Attorney A. Kurt Ardaman told City Commissioners that they had been violating the Sunshine Law by attending meetings in Tallahassee as a group.

“The law is what it is,” Ardaman said. “Just because some cities might do that doesn’t mean it does not violate the law.”

The Sunshine Law was established in the spirit of “open government” forbidding members of city governments from discussing city-related matters outside of their public meetings, also requiring that a meeting – or a gathering of at least two board members – must be advertised to the public and have minutes taken.

Ardaman said that the law is very clear on when government bodies can meet outside of their political boundaries. There’s two situations where it’s allowed: if a city or town has less than 500 residents or if two government bodies meet to discuss a common interest, but only if they meet within the county at issue.

“There is no [other] exception or exemption for meetings outside of a City Commission or City Council,” Ardaman said.

City Spokesperson Clarissa Howard said that previous city attorneys had seen no problem with multiple City Commissioners heading to Tallahassee together, while City Manager Randy Knight added that as many as three or four Commissioners at a time would participate in meetings at the state capital.

“I’m still astounded that we can’t do that,” Commissioner Tom McMacken said.

“The truth of the matter is the majority of the cities do go together,” City Commissioner Carolyn Cooper said. “However, if there’s a legal question about it, we do need to answer it.”

Winter Park City Commissioners voted to table the resolution until a later meeting in order to get more opinions on the matter.

“I know that our attorney has been talking to other attorneys with the Florida League of Cities about it,” Cooper said. “That would certainly be a nice avenue to bring forward.”