Once again the Natchez Board of Aldermen and the Adams County Board of Supervisors have blatantly circumvented the public’s right to know what’s going on with city and county government.

On Monday, the two boards met in an &uot;informal&uot; meeting without a single member of the public present. Some people may believe such a meeting may seem harmless.

It’s not.

By gathering as a group and discussing official business the two boards violated Mississippi’s Open Meetings laws.

And that must stop.

If this were the first time such a secret meeting had taken place or if the people involved didn’t understand the laws we wouldn’t be so upset.

However, with many longtime office holders on both boards, they know better. Calling a meeting without giving notice to the public is inexcusable and potentially dangerous.

Each elected official present at the meeting works for the public and should be answerable to the public. Working in the shadows may be more productive from the perspective of the board members, but it eliminates the public’s chance to voice an opinion on any matters.

What would have prevented the two boards from discusses such complicated issues as tax increases or annexation during the meeting?

Nothing since the public would never have to know about it.

While this meeting was purported to involve the future of the jointly funding Natchez-Adams County Economic and Community Development Association, we’ll never know exactly what was discussed.

Why? Conveniently none involved in the meeting bothered to record minutes of what was discussed.

Mississippi’s Open Meetings laws apply whether either of the boards actually took action or not. Previous court decisions as well as Attorney General opinions have ruled that merely discussing public issues constitutes a public meeting.

City and county residents deserve more respect from the mayor, the aldermen and the supervisors.

After all they do work for us, and they need to remember that simple fact.