State: Bunker Hill Town Council held illegal emergency meeting

Former Council President Robert Cox filed a formal complaint against the council on Aug. 18 alleging council members held an illegal emergency executive session on Aug. 15 because they did not properly advertise what the meeting was about or give proper notice of the meeting.

In their response to the complaint, council members said they held the emergency meeting in order to talk to an attorney and retain him as council for a lawsuit.

Public Access Counselor Luke Britt said his formal written opinion that emergency meetings are only allowable if “the sky is falling, so to speak.”

“For an emergency to exist, it must threaten to compromise the integrity of operations of the government for the present or foreseeable future,” he wrote.

In his ruling on the town council, Britt said “deciding which attorney to hire is not an emergency circumstance under the Open Door Law.”

The ruling comes after Cox filed a lawsuit against the town council in August for allegedly violating the Open Door Law during another meeting.

The lawsuit claims the town council held its regular meeting on June 13 without giving public notice. Indiana law requires notice of a public meeting must be posted at least 48 hours before it is held.

The lawsuit alleges a notice was never posted, and the council routinely violates the state’s open door laws.

Cox argues in the lawsuit that because the meeting was illegal, an ordinance should be overturned that was approved during the meeting that amended a previous ordinance defining the office of the town marshal.

The town council was most recently cited for violating Open Door laws in February 2015 when council members held an executive session in which they illegally determined to discipline former Clerk-Treasurer Lisa Wilson.

According to state code, council members can only receive and review information during an executive session, and are not allowed to vote or make determinations during the meeting.