Editorial — Freedom of Information Act protects all of us
In light of recent discussions regarding the actions of the Belvedere Fire District commissioners, The Star felt it was time to revisit the specifics of the Freedom of Information Act for the benefit of all public bodies in the North Augusta area.
Contrary to the assumption made by a former fire commissioner in a letter to the editor last week, under the Freedom of Information Act of South Carolina a "meeting" is defined as the "convening of a quorum of the constituent membership of a public body, whether corporal or by electronic equipment, to discuss or act upon a matter over which the public body has supervision, control, jurisdiction or advisory power." What that means in this state is that if a quorum is present -- a simply majority of the body in question and when there are only three commissioners two constitute a quorum -- it doesn't matter if you're at an "official" meeting or at a social gathering or on a phone call, if business of the body is being discussed, then it's a meeting under FOIA. And a meeting requires minutes to be kept.
Those members of any such public body should make it their goal to understand the ins and outs of the Freedom of Information Act and to follow it as best they can. Ignorance is not an excuse.
There are penalties associated with willful violation of the FOIA, which include a fine of up to $100 and up to 30 days in jail for the first offense, double that for the second and triple for the third offense.
When rendering an opinion on FOIA the Attorney General's office has stated that it follows these guidelines:
When in doubt, disclose requested information.
When in doubt, post the time, place and purpose of the meeting.
When in doubt, open the meeting to the public.
When in doubt, release the document.
Meetings of public bodies must be open, according to the FOIA, and such special purpose districts as the Belvedere Fire District or the Breezy Hill Water District, etc. are included among those identified organizations. In fact, the FOIA states, "No chance meeting, social meeting or electronic communication may be used in circumvention of the spirit of requirements of this chapter to act upon a matter over which the public body has supervision, control, jurisdiction or advisory power."
For anyone interested in reading the S.C. Freedom of Information Act in its entirety (with plain language explanations from the S.C. Press Association, if you like), The Star will gladly provide an electronic or hard copy of the document.
