Ocean Springs board goes into closed session over open meetings and records complaints
At the regular meeting held Aug. 18-19, a motion to stay in executive session was made by Alderman Stennis and seconded by Alderman Messenger, and it carried unanimously. The presiding officer Mayor Bobby Cox said discussion in open session "would be detrimental to the city's litigation position for the topics of Ocean Springs versus Garcia, public records complaint R26057, open meetings complaint M26021, and a notice of claim Garcia."
No further details were disclosed before the board adjourned, and the underlying complaints and notice of claim were not made public at the meeting.
The disclosure means Ocean Springs' city government is itself the subject of a formal open meetings complaint and a public records complaint, in addition to facing a notice-of-claim lawsuit, all tied to the case styled Ocean Springs v. Garcia. A municipal board accused of withholding public information while presiding over its own meetings raises direct accountability and transparency questions for residents monitoring the city's compliance with open-government laws.
It was not clear from Tuesday's meeting who filed the complaints or what conduct they allege.