Cain: maybe a mistake, but no Sunshine admission
While admitting to “maybe a mistake” in a private “15-second” correspondence with fellow Town of Farragut Alderman David White, Alderman Alex Cain said he never “admitted” to any Open Meetings Act (Sunshine Law) violation as reported in the July 30 issue of farragutpress (starting on page 1A).
Denying they broke the law concerning the Sunshine Law, Cain did admit that it “may have been” bad judgement in his private discussion with White, the published report of which has set off a series of attacks on the North Ward (Ward 1) alderman on Social Media believing he did, in fact, violate the Open Meetings Act.
“Since I sent the e-mail (open letter published in the July 23 issue of farragutpress), the social media has been abuzz about it,” Cain said.
Writing what became an open letter, which he refers to as “the e-mail” he wanted read during the Thursday, July 17, Farragut Municipal Planning Commission meeting, “there were some things on the agenda I had some concerns with and wanted to get a comment on, obviously, at the meeting,” Cain said, adding the e-mailed letter “voiced my concerns.” It was never read during that FMPC meeting.
“Before I even put the e-mail together, I happened to run into David White and I asked David if he saw the items that were on the Planning Commission agenda, especially the one in regard to Road Cross Sections, I believe is how it was titled,” Cain recalled.
“He said, ‘Yeah, and I don’t like it.’ I said, ‘Neither do I,’” he added. “Then we went on our way. That was the total extent of that whole conversation.
“When I put the e-mail together at the end of (the correspondence in question), it may have been a poor choice of words. ...”
Though he spoke with Town attorney Tom Hale on Wednesday, July 23, and Thursday, July 24, concerning the Open Meetings Act, Cain said Hale did not take a position on whether or not the North Ward alderman did, indeed, violate the law.
Cain, who is not an attorney, said he did not form his opinion of not violating the Act based on meetings with any attorney.
Instead, “After I got elected, I had meetings with a lot of people at the Town, (such as) Town staff, department heads, people in the administrator’s office,” Cain recalled. “… We even talked about the Sunshine Law and how if I was going to go meet with a group of residents in a neighborhood, I can’t have another alderman there unless we put a notice in the paper that Alderman Cain and Alderman whomever are going to meet. … That’s how it was explained it to me.
“An item that is on the agenda you’re going vote on, you cannot deliberate it beforehand with another elected official,” Cain added, stressing this was not the case with himself and White.
Moreover, “I don’t see that as a violation of this law because it’s not on the BOMA agenda,” Cain said. “It hasn’t been on the BOMA agenda, and as of today, it’s not going to be on the BOMA agenda. ...
“My comment in my e-mail about David White and I noticing an agenda item that we didn’t like; technically, that agenda item doesn’t exist now,” he added.
“If it doesn’t come to fruition, then there’s no violation whatsoever. I don’t believe there was a violation even up until then.”
Hale addressed the Sunshine Law at the Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting Thursday, July 30. “He said, ‘Sometimes it’s very difficult to decide what is or what is not a violation,’” Cain recalled. “I think that’s where we stand on this because that (letter-referenced) item was pulled as an agenda item, so now it doesn’t exist. It’s not on any agenda. I made a comment in an e-mail about an item that got pulled.”
However, that issue in question “can come back” for deliberation before any Town board, commission or committee — all subject to the Sunshine Law — according to both Hale and Cain.
About the 15 seconds in question privately with White — for those thinking it might have been a Sunshine Law violation — Cain said Hale told him, “‘If you talk about (the same information as discussed in the private conversation) in a public meeting before you may have to vote on the item in question, then you cure it.’ … Basically, that nullifies any violation because you disclosed it ahead of time.”
When Cain said he asked Hale, ‘How do I violate something if the agenda item doesn’t exist?’ Cain recalled Hale saying, “‘That’s where the gray area comes from.’”
Cain recalled Hale saying to him, “’If you truly believed you violated the law, I don’t think you would have asked the newspaper to print your e-mail where you stated that you and David (White) talked.’”
