State Attorney General's Office finds county commission concerns, no Sunshine Law violations

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office looked into a Sunshine Law complaint against the Laclede County Commission and found some concerns but no violations of the law. That is according to a Jan. 23 letter the commission received from the office. Carrie Plassmeyer had said in a complaint that “the Commission did not provide sufficient public notice of a proposed reduction in the commercial property tax surcharge, which appeared on the Nov. 8, 2022 election ballot.” In a letter to the Commission, the Attorney General’s Chief Counsel for Governmental Affairs Jason K. Lewis said he agreed with citizen concerns that the Commission meeting minutes did not include the time or place where each meeting is held as required by the Sunshine Law. Laclede County Presiding Commissioner Randy Angst said he wanted to make the commissioners and public aware “that we fully comply and are very transparent the way we operate here, we just wanted the public to be aware of it.” Plassmeyer responded to the commission’s public statement about her inquiry Tuesday. “The letter was an effort from a Laclede County citizen that simply asked for more detailed information to be made easily accessible to the public,” Plassmeyer said. “The purpose of the letter wasn’t solely about questions regarding the surtax discussion, it was an official request for simple details to be included on a public website, such as meeting time, place and agenda and for the meeting minutes to follow basic guidelines the Sunshine Law requires.” For more on this story see Wednesday's LCR.