County commission violates Missouri's Sunshine Law

The Pettis County Commission failed to place on its agenda the issue of whether to allow Sheriff Kevin Bond to house sexual predators when it voted on it Tuesday.

Placing such an item on the tentative agenda is a requirement of the Missouri Sunshine Law that calls for a public body to give notice of its meetings.

“To take something up that is not on the agenda is a violation of the Sunshine Law,” said Jean Maneke, a Kansas City attorney representing the Missouri Press Association. “The agenda is required in posting notice of the meetings. When you take up matters not on the agenda, you’ve violated the basic requirements of the law.”

Presiding Commissioner Rusty Kahrs and County Clerk Pam Doane, who prepares the agenda for the meetings, said they believed the omission of the item was the result of a misunderstanding between them.

Kahrs asked Doane whether “the contract” was on the agenda, and she told him it was. She was referring to contracts for inmate phone services and a driving while intoxicated grant.

Kahrs told the Democrat he thought the sexual predator item was on the agenda.

“I should have looked at it,” Kahrs said. “I didn’t have this one in front of me. I glanced at it, but I didn’t sit down and give it a thorough read, and that’s my fault. .... It was my mistake. I offer apologies.”

Kahrs said he realized the issue had significant public interest.

“If you are going to stub your toe, you might as well stub it on something big,” he said.

Kahrs said that to prevent such miscommunications, “Starting tomorrow, we will require the agenda be approved by the County Commission” before it is posted and sent to media. “I at least will have the opportunity to put another set of eyes on it and hopefully that will keep this from happening in the future.”