During a 20-minute executive session Thursday night, the WessonBoard of Alderman decided to abolish “a piece of equipment” thatwas somehow related to personnel matters, according to BoardAttorney Jeff Varas and Mayor David McGee.

The decision, however, was not made known until after the boardmeeting was over, which is a violation of Mississippi law.

According to state law on open meetings and reasons forexecutive sessions, an administrative board must report in openmeeting what actions were taken during executive session.

“If they’re going to take action, they’ve got to come back outand do that in open meeting, so the public can know what’s goingon,” said Leonard Van Slyke, an attorney with the MississippiCenter for Freedom of Information.

Boards do not have to go into extensive detail if it will causeharm to parties involved, but they must at least report as much aspossible to the public, Van Slyke said.

The error by the town board was not intentional, McGee said. Theboard just forgot to report the decision made in executive session,he said.

The connection between the “piece of equipment” and personnelmatters remains unclear.

The mayor said he could not expound upon how the piece ofequipment was related to personnel or how going into executivesession to discuss equipment was legitimate. He said it would beimproper to discuss the matter before reporting the decision to thepeople involved.

“I just don’t like to say too much until I talk to the personfirst,” he said.

Proper procedure concerning entering and exiting executivesession was also botched a little, as the board only stated a needto go into executive session, not a reason.

According to state law, a member of the board must make arequest by motion to discuss whether or not an executive session isnecessary. Then the board will make a preliminary determination ofthe necessity, and will vote to go into executive session if thereis a necessity.

The administrative board must also “state in open meeting itsreason for executive session, and the reason must be recorded inthe minutes,” said Van Slyke, who has researched the FirstAmendment law for 20 years.

Any decisions made must also be recorded in the minutes, whichmust be made available to the public within 30 days. The public mayreview and/or object to the minutes when they are made public.

Deputy Attorney General Mike Lanford said the reason for goinginto executive session must also be stated as specific aspossible.

An opinion rendered by the attorney general in 1991 states “aboard which only announces litigation or personnel matters forgoing into executive session has said nothing.”

Under state law, after the board came out of executive session,and voted to reopen the meeting, they should have stated what wasdiscussed or what decision was made. However, the board simplyre-entered the meeting without a vote and continued with theagenda.

Matters on the agenda began with an approval of the previousmeeting’s minutes, then there was a public hearing about a requestfor special exemption in an R-2 zoning area.

During the hearing, the town board asked if any of the threepeople who had objections to the zoning exemption would like tomake a statement. None did.

Attorney Alise Munn spoke for Lynn Cook, who had requested tomove a mobile home onto Third Street.

Munn passed out maps of the location, and pointed out to boardmembers how a trailer had been on the property from September 1995to November 1999.

Ward One Alderman Robert Derrick told Munn that the area inquestion was moving away from having trailers in it. He added thatseveral brick houses had recently been built nearby.

“That area is kind of changing, and it’s changing in a positivemanner,” he told Munn.

Munn said the objections from adjoining landowners should notmake a difference in the decision of the board.

“I don’t think the citizens should dictate your decisions,” shesaid.

Board members explained to her that their purpose was to servethe people and the best interest of the town as a whole.

If they allowed a mobile home to be moved into an area where itwas not wanted, that would not be watching out for the people ofWesson, Munn was told.

After the discussion, board members upheld the decision by thezoning committee to deny the request.

In other business, board members were presented with materialabout a cable company that hopes to locate its services there.

Representatives from Galaxy Cable, which serves 12 states,talked with the board about the type of services their companywould offer, the costs of the programs and the benefits for thetown.

The presentation by Galaxy Cable comes following problems withBailey Cable Company over the past two years. The board decided tolook into the possibility of using another company.

No decision was made during the meeting, but board members planto review the plans and talk with nearby towns about their cablechoices.

The next scheduled meeting is 7 p.m., Aug. 1, in the town hall.The meeting will be open to the public.