Occasionally, a newspaper steps in to do the agency's work for it and ensure compliance with the open meetings law.

Here, a reporter for the Nelson County Gazette alerted city officials to their failure to comply with the statutory requirements for going in to closed session to discuss matters that might lead to the appointment, discipline, or dismissal of an individual employee.

Armed with legal authority in support of his position, the reporter advised officials that — as construed by the Kentucky attorney general in a line of opinions/decisions dating back to the eighties — the city could not simply recite the language of the exception authorizing the closed session but was required to state whether the closed session would deal with either appointment, or discipline, or dismissal of an individual employee.

City officials yielded to the reporter's objections and corrected the potential violation.

It's not clear whether the reporter was equally outspoken about city officials' compliance with the requirements for going into closed session to discuss proposed or pending litigation or acquisition or sale of real property.

The authority on which the reporter relied in identifying the first violation was a brochure entitled "Protecting Your Right to Know." It is, and for decades has been, prepared by the attorney general's open records staff. It is regularly updated to reflect changes in the law. The brochure identifies specific requirements that public officials must observe in invoking the other 13 exceptions authorizing closed sessions to ensure that the public can assess whether there is a legitimate basis for the closed session.

In the case of proposed or pending litigation, for example, the agency should identify the pending case by name or describe the circumstances that might lead to proposed litigation.

The unidentified reporter, perhaps the article's author, Jim Brooks, equipped himself with the knowledge that enabled him to become a media/citizen advocate for open government.

The brochure is available at: https://ag.ky.gov/publications/AG%20Publications/Protecting-Your-Right-…