The latest flare-up in the ongoing flap between members of theMississippi Transportation Commission reinforces the need forchange when something is not working.

The change needed now is stronger laws regarding Mississippi’sopen meetings.

In the current episode, Central District TransportationCommissioner Dick Hall cried open meetings foul – and the stateEthics Commission agreed – over being left out of a dinner-timegathering in which fellow transportation commissioners Wayne Brownfrom the south and Bill Minor from the north met in August withMDOT Executive Director Butch Brown and others regarding a RankinCounty interchange project. To use a transportation term, Minor andWayne Brown ‘bypassed’ Hall to discuss a project in his owndistrict!

The problem with this is that not only was Hall left out, butthe public at large also did not know about the meeting and was notgiven an opportunity to be present for discussions that took place.Wayne Brown and Hall’s presence at the gathering constituted aquorum and their discussion of a project over which thetransportation commission has jurisdiction amounted to a violationof the state’s open meetings laws.

And what, aside from some negative publicity from press outletsaround the state, did the commissioners in clear violation of thelaw receive as punishment for their transgression? Essentially,Brown and Hall were told not to do the bad thing again.

A $100 fine, as prescribed in the current law, was not leviedbecause the transportation commission – and not the law-breakingcommissioners individually – would be responsible for paying it.Oooh, we bet Brown and Minor’s wallets are happy not to have takenthat big hit.

But what if the ethics panel had decided to levy the fineagainst the commission? It would have been an incredibly sad ironyfor Hall to be asked – assuming, of course, he was invited to themeeting – to formally sign off on the panel paying the fine.

The paltry fine amount is, quite honestly, laughable. Whetherone calls it “putting teeth into the law,” “getting someone’sattention,” or some other phrase, the state’s opening meetings lawsneed to be strengthened to discourage some officials’ callusdisregard for the people who elected them and the ones they aresupposed to be serving.

The gathering involving Brown and Minor certainly is not theonly violation of an open meetings law to have ever occurredanywhere. The fact is that other officials – be they in city,county, school or some other capacity – knowingly or unknowinglybreak the law from time to time.

But stronger laws and stiffer penalties for violations willreinforce the seriousness of the following the law and theimportance of insuring that the public’s business is conducted in amanner in which everyone has an opportunity to be present and beheard.