Opinion: For DA Heckler, Sunshine Law is serious business
August 01, 2012 Sunshine Act
OPINION
The (Bucks County) Intelligencer
The state Sunshine Law is supposed to guarantee openness in government. It’s been our experience that local officials sometimes ignore the law, carrying out the public’s business in private or operating in ways that leave citizens frustrated and angry.
Municipalities and school boards in Bucks County have been put on notice, however. District Attorney Dave Heckler takes the open meeting law seriously and will not hesitate to use the power of his office to enforce it.
A few months ago, Heckler scolded Perkasie Borough Council for going behind closed doors to discuss some borough business after a member of council brought the matter to Heckler’s attention. The DA didn’t file any formal charges, but perhaps something better happened: Councilman Jim Ryder was prompted to form a “constituent outreach” committee to meet with residents in an informal, town hall setting.
Regular council meetings are often too structured and too crammed full of borough business to allow much time for interaction between officials and residents. The outreach committee meetings — the first of which was held last month — promise a chance for everyone to be heard in a neighborly gathering, and to become involved in what the borough is doing. The next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 11.
Meanwhile, Heckler’s office has also had its eye on the Central Bucks school board, checking out complaints it violated the Sunshine Law in deciding to make a change in middle-school scheduling. While no evidence of Sunshine Law violations was found, Heckler said “there were definitely a couple of technical violations ... the board did some things that were counterproductive.” The kinds of things that, while they don’t merit prosecution, nevertheless make residents grit their teeth and lose confidence in their elected board members.
By the time Heckler met with CB solicitor Jeff Garton and board President Paul Faulkner in May, the board had already addressed some of the technical violations. The board reversed its decision to hold all public comment until the end of meetings and now allows the public to comment when the meetings start. Vague agendas have been replaced by more-detailed versions. At Heckler’s suggestion, meetings are once again being recorded, and more-inclusive minutes of the meetings are being prepared.
These were not major transgressions in Heckler’s opinion; hence, there were no charges. But the board clearly needed what we’ll call an attitude adjustment. Said Heckler: “The school board is there to serve the public. They need to be as open as they possibly can. They need to not sit on the inside thumbing their noses at people on the outside.”
That’s sage advice for all school and municipal boards.
The (Bucks County) Intelligencer
The state Sunshine Law is supposed to guarantee openness in government. It’s been our experience that local officials sometimes ignore the law, carrying out the public’s business in private or operating in ways that leave citizens frustrated and angry.
Municipalities and school boards in Bucks County have been put on notice, however. District Attorney Dave Heckler takes the open meeting law seriously and will not hesitate to use the power of his office to enforce it.
A few months ago, Heckler scolded Perkasie Borough Council for going behind closed doors to discuss some borough business after a member of council brought the matter to Heckler’s attention. The DA didn’t file any formal charges, but perhaps something better happened: Councilman Jim Ryder was prompted to form a “constituent outreach” committee to meet with residents in an informal, town hall setting.
Regular council meetings are often too structured and too crammed full of borough business to allow much time for interaction between officials and residents. The outreach committee meetings — the first of which was held last month — promise a chance for everyone to be heard in a neighborly gathering, and to become involved in what the borough is doing. The next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 11.
Meanwhile, Heckler’s office has also had its eye on the Central Bucks school board, checking out complaints it violated the Sunshine Law in deciding to make a change in middle-school scheduling. While no evidence of Sunshine Law violations was found, Heckler said “there were definitely a couple of technical violations ... the board did some things that were counterproductive.” The kinds of things that, while they don’t merit prosecution, nevertheless make residents grit their teeth and lose confidence in their elected board members.
By the time Heckler met with CB solicitor Jeff Garton and board President Paul Faulkner in May, the board had already addressed some of the technical violations. The board reversed its decision to hold all public comment until the end of meetings and now allows the public to comment when the meetings start. Vague agendas have been replaced by more-detailed versions. At Heckler’s suggestion, meetings are once again being recorded, and more-inclusive minutes of the meetings are being prepared.
These were not major transgressions in Heckler’s opinion; hence, there were no charges. But the board clearly needed what we’ll call an attitude adjustment. Said Heckler: “The school board is there to serve the public. They need to be as open as they possibly can. They need to not sit on the inside thumbing their noses at people on the outside.”
That’s sage advice for all school and municipal boards.
