Pensacola, Century Officials Spending Two Days In The Sunshine

August 20, 2013

Officials from Pensacola and Century will spend their Tuesday and Wednesday in the Sunshine.

Barbara Peterson, president of the Florida First Amendment Foundation, will conduct sunshine and public records law training for Pensacola city employees, board members and council members all day today at Pensacola’s Saenger Theatre.

Wednesday, Peterson will meet with the staff and board members of the Greater Pensacola Chamber for training. The chamber’s Sunshine Task Force asked for the second day because there are some unique issues for the organization since it’s not a government body.

While all of the meeting are open to the public, a third session geared toward the public will be held Tuesday from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m. at the Saenger called “Sunshine in the City”.

Since the free training meetings are open to the public, the Town of Century is going to take advantage of the training too. Century Mayor Freddie McCall, council member Gary Riley, Assistant Deputy Clerk Angela Suggs and Citizen Services Clerk Kim Godwin will attend Tuesday’s training session. On Wednesday, Century council member Sandra McMurray Jackson, Town Clerk Leslie Gonzalez and Citizens Service Clerk Erin Weekes will attend the free session with the Pensacola Chamber.

Both training days are the result of recent reports by the State Attorney’s Office. On July 2, State Attorney Bill Eddins issued a report that Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward’s city administrator and his press secretary/public information officer had violated the state’s public record laws. He also had numerous complaints on how Pensacola dealt with public record requests–some were taking months to fulfill.

Later in the month, the state attorney issued an opinion that the Pensacola chamber does fall under the state’s Sunshine Laws because of its managing economic development and tourism for the county and city.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News