The city attorney's office will start giving quarterly classes on the Sunshine Law to city appointed boards.
The decision came after Councilwoman Pam Ladd alerted the rest of the council that some city boards were violating the law.
"They either don't know or don't care," Ladd said.
The comments came while the council was talking about if city board appointees should be city residents or property owners within the city. The council decided to make no changes, allowing members of city boards to live anywhere.
Ladd said she found out a few weeks ago that any board that received 30 percent or more in city funding had to abide by the Sunshine Law, which is state law requiring elected officials to govern in public.
She said she had a confidential conversation with a board member two weeks ago and heard about some of the violations. Ladd said she immediately told the person that the board was violating Sunshine Law.
Ladd would not disclose which board had the problems.
Councilwoman Deborah Scott said there should be city attorney training for all boards.
City Attorney Mike McMahan told council members he would have no qualms with conducting quarterly training.
Cliff has worked for the Times Free Press for five years and covers Chattanooga city government. He previously covered Rhea County, as well as transportation and growth and development in Southeast Tennessee. A native of Maryville, Tenn., Cliff graduated in 2003 from the University of Tennessee with a bachelor’s degree in communications with an emphasis on journalism. Before coming to Chattanooga, he was a crime reporter with Hernando Today, a supplement of The Tampa (Fla.) ...
