Case Analysis The Day the Sunshine Left Crestview

The environment along with its strategic location at the junction of main highways makes it one of the fastest growing municipality in Okaloosa County and a great destination for seasonal tourists. The city has had a great history and developed quite fast throughout its past history, until the time this sunshine talked about in the title left the place. The main issue revolving about the matter is that in recent times, the members of the City Council of Crestview violated Florida’s Sunshine Law, thus in the humorous sense casting a shadow over the city government. In other words it appears as if the sunshine left Crestview on that very day it was exposed that the council members had acted in a manner that breached the Act.

In this paper, the analysis will shade light on the issues surrounding the case of Crestview, show how deep the matter is, and how serious the impacts surrounding this violation can get. This implies that the act requires that before any meeting is held, there has to be an issuance of a prior notice. Also, it also means that the general public can attend, comment, and participate in any way possible before the agency taking that official action. The City Council of Crestview is a lawmaking body, whose members are required to exercise their legislative authority by serving and advancing the general welfare of the citizens as well as their safety, happiness, and health. In September 2011, an investigation was initiated by the Northwest Florida Daily News after it was suspected that the City Council was having an email problem, whereby the officials were discussing matters pertaining the city business through these emails, a factor that was not allowed under the Florida’s Sunshine Law.

The public records law experts state that the law clearly stipulates that the officials are not allowed to use any form of communication as a way of avoiding a public meeting, particularly when discussing issues within the course of doing the usual business of the council. Such agencies may comprise of committees, councils, boards, authorities, and commissions (Fischman, 2012). This means that the City Council members were bound by the act and that the communication in the email was subject to the Sunshine law. Proof of Violation of the Act From the article, it has been clearly stipulated that the details that were discussed by the members via emails fall in the category of the official business and thus qualify to be public records.

The most prominent conversation came from the emails from Council President Baugh. In his emails, President Baugh talks about existing contracts individuals were awarded by the City of Crestview and various matters that require to be investigated for irregularities. Moreover, any form of complaint can only be filed within 30 days of this public meeting in which the supposed violation took place (Eschenfelder, 2017). If the alleged infraction happened during the closed meeting, the complaint has to take place within the 30 days upon the discovery of the violation, as long as the meeting took place a time no later than the past one year. From the case of Smith v. Township of Richmond, 623 Pa. 209, 223 (Pa. Eschenfelder, R. M. When Is a Public Official Entitled to Prevailing Party Attorneys’ Fee Reimbursement in Public Records Act Cases? Part I.