Another County Commission violates open meetings law, says Mayor

The Blount County mayor has accused three members of the County Commission of violating the open meetings law for going with a citizen to Nashville to meet with officials in the State Comptroller's office about financial irregularities in their county government.

A frustrating situation. They probably did violate the law, but in this case it seems to be hampering their ability to provide an effective check on other branches of government. A thousand instances of history provide justification for the sunshine law, but is there a price that we're paying in weakening representative bodies? Then again, there are probably perfectly easy means for dealing with such issues without violating the spirit or letter of the law.