Executive session leads to questions

An executive session called during the town's public safety committee Wednesday drew fire from reporters present over two issues: adjourning into executive session with out giving a specific purpose and discussing "legal matters" without the town attorney present. 

Councilman Walter Bailey, who chairs the committee, called the executive session for "legal matters" — a too brief statement, according to the S.C. Freedom of Information Act. 

Read the Freedom of Information Act here. 

"I might have erred on the side of brevity," Bailey said Thursday in an interview.

As the council went to adjourn Wednesday, Journal Scene reporter Leslie Cantu objected by saying the committee could not meet on legal advice without the town attorney, Mark Stokes, present. 

"I'm an attorney," Bailey responded. Bailey is the former First Circuit Solicitor; he still practices law.

Council met in executive session, and upon returning, Bo Petersen of the Post and Courier and Cantu reiterated the need for a town attorney to be present, adding that Bailey is not authorized to provide legal counsel to the town. 

"I discussed legal matters ... which I'm qualified to do," Bailey responded. 

No action was taken during executive session, Bailey said.

Patch addressed the brevity issue with council at this time, explaining that they were too brief in their reasons for adjourning into the session.

The law states: "Before going into executive session the public agency shall vote in public on the question and when the vote is favorable, the presiding officer shall announce the specific purpose of the executive session. As used in this subsection, "specific purpose" means a description of the matter to be discussed as identified in items (1) through (5) of subsection (a) of this section. However, when the executive session is held pursuant to Sections 30-4-70(a)(1) or 30-4-70(a)(5), the identity of the individual or entity being discussed is not required to be disclosed to satisfy the requirement that the specific purpose of the executive session be stated."

Bailey revised his statement to: "Legal matters pertaining to ."

After the meeting, The Journal Scene spoke with S.C. Press Association attorney Jay Bender about the action to meet on "legal matters" without the town attorney present. In this article, Bender said that Bailey's interpretation of the law was wrong and that legal counsel must be the town attorney.

Thurday, after review of the law, Bailey maintained that the interpretation of the law allows for any legal counsel, including himself.

"If I did wrong, it was not going into more detail than I did. As far as having the town lawyer in there, I'm not convinced we needed him," Bailey said. 

He added that the law can be interpreted different ways and it left some gray area.