I was out of the country between April 6 and April 13. I am sorry for the late posting of his response.

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Ron,

I read your opinion piece that is posted on Marshall Texas Online and feel I must respond to your allegations.

You stated that it is your opinion that the City violated the Open Meetings Act.

First, you question the basis for the Executive session conducted on March 23, 2006. It appears that you are disputing which exception to the Open Meetings Act applied to the executive session.

In your article you quote from an article written in 1998 by C. Robert Heath wherein he states that there are few, if any, "implied exceptions" to the requirements of the Open Meetings Act. I agree with his position. However, I must point out that in this portion of Mr. Heath's article he is discussing whether there are any other exceptions to the Open Meetings Act besides the ones specifically listed in the statute. (The title to the subsection is: "Closed Meetings Permitted When No Specific Exception is Applicable".)

The city commission did not conduct an executive session on the basis of an "implied exception". The executive session was held pursuant to section 551.071 (2) of the Government Code which provides a specific "statutory exception" for consultation with an attorney. The City Commission's posted agenda listed the specific statutory exception for the executive session, as well as the subject matter of executive session. Therefore, I fail to see the relevancy of that specific quote from Mr. Heath to the present issue.