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To meet or not to meet? Must be a hard question

The Early Learning Coalition held an emergency meeting to discuss cutting back on its number of meetings.

By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published July 20, 2005

The Pasco-Hernando Early Learning Coalition called an emergency meeting Tuesday to discuss whether to cut back on meetings.

Executive director Jim Garrett said it was important to hold a meeting to discuss meetings before Thursday, when five coalition meetings were to take place - one regular meeting and four committee meetings.

"We needed to decide by today whether to have committee meetings or not," Garrett said Tuesday afternoon, when asked about the emergency nature of the executive committee meeting. Because the coalition posts public meetings notices in the newspaper in compliance with open meetings laws, he said, it needed to quickly decide what meetings to advertise.

According to board member Dave Marshall, the coalition didn't take a formal vote Tuesday but did decide to scratch a couple of Thursday's committee meetings.

Tuesday's emergency meeting, however, was only scantily noticed.

Board members got an e-mail alert at 6:45 p.m. Monday, less than 15 hours before the meeting was to be held. Some board members didn't even know about the meeting until after it was held.

"I guess my question is, "Was there something new that came up at 6:45 yesterday that made that an emergency?" said Sandy Ramos, assistant superintendent for Pasco County schools and a recent critic of the coalition's leadership.

Those who attended Tuesday's meeting said only five of the 25 people e-mailed the night before took part in the meeting in person or by phone, not including Garrett and another staff member.

Garrett said he believed the staff members posted signs about the meeting on the doors of the coalition offices in New Port Richey and Brooksville on Monday night. And at some point, a posting went up on the group's Web site, though he couldn't be sure of the time.

Despite a St. Petersburg Times request to be notified of all meetings, Garrett said he wasn't aware of any efforts to contact the media about Tuesday's gathering.

Florida's Sunshine Law requires public bodies to provide "reasonable notice" of all meetings. The Attorney General's Office says that "emergency sessions should be afforded the most appropriate and effective notice under the circumstances and special meetings should have 24 hours' reasonable notice to the public."

Sandra Chance, executive director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida, said that giving notice of a meeting on the coalition's doors or Web site might be appropriate notice for a regularly scheduled meeting. But, Chance said, the Attorney General suggests more effort be made when a meeting is called outside the regularly scheduled time.

Board member Blake Harding, who phoned into the executive committee meeting Tuesday morning at the Regional Workforce Board offices in Brooksville, said board members are working hard to try to overcome recent rancor and infighting. He and board member Ben Shirley said the committee agreed to stop holding repetitive committee meetings in an effort to stem ongoing discussion about a recent controversial vote: The coalition ended funding to the Pasco County School Board to help with prekindergarten programs.

That issue is one of several dividing the board. Another stems from public meeting laws.

Board member Marshall, a critic of Garrett's who is one of several being investigated for alleged violations of the Sunshine Law, rushed to the Brooksville meeting Tuesday morning after getting an e-mail notice on his pocket organizer.

Thursday's regular coalition meeting is open to the public and will be held at 1:30 p.m. at the Masaryktown Community Center, 539 Lincoln Ave., in Masaryktown.

[Last modified July 20, 2005, 00:57:15]