Joint meeting of City Council and School Board in Gadsden ends in argument

Robert Avery

A Tuesday afternoon joint work session between the Gadsden City Council and Gadsden City Board of Education turned into an argument over the law.  It began when City Councilman Robert Avery tried to call an executive session and school board attorney Kent Henslee advised members that participating would be illegal.  Henslee told Avery that according to the Alabama Open Meetings law, the board could not be involved in a closed meeting without giving 24-hour posted notice of the meeting, without risking legal reprisal.  Avery argued against Henslee's interpretation of the law, and City Attorney Lee Roberts said he did not believe participation in such a meeting would be illegal. He called the League of Municipalities and was told that as long as notice of a meeting had been given, the meeting was proper.  However, Henslee maintained that bodies like the board or the council cannot take action in a work session. The board of education had a scheduled meeting for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, and had given notice of the meeting — including notice there would be an executive session.  Henslee said if the City Council wanted to come to the board's meeting, the board could invite the council to participate in its executive session to discuss good name and character and be within the law.  Avery rejected the offer saying quote “We invited you here. I don't want to go to somebody else's house to fight,” “I want to fight at my house.”  Mayor Sherman Guyton stepped in to say the meeting was not intended to be a fight, and Avery said that he'd just been teasing about fighting but would not agree to meet at the board of education.