It’s the law

Expanding the city of Dothan through annexation is not a routine occurrence; since 2004, the city commission has only annexed 23 pieces of property into the city limits. If elected officials simply approve such matters reflexively, they would be derelict in their duty to make decisions in the best interest of the people of Dothan.

So what are we to make of unanimous passage of a request for annexation that came before the Dothan City Commission last week? Harry Wayne Parrish’s request to have his Fortner Street property annexed into the city limits barely got notice. The motion passed unanimously without discussion.

Perhaps the commissioners are telepathic and discussed the request through a mindmeld while in a public meeting. Perhaps they’re completely incompetent and didn’t bother to consider what the request may mean. Neither scenario is likely, so we must conclude something else occurred.

In other words, commissioners must have discussed Parrish’s request outside of public view and may even have determined how each elected official would vote. The action taken in the Feb. 10 public meeting was simply window dressing. The deliberative process had already occurred privately. And that’s exactly the sort of thing Alabama’s Open Meetings Law is designed to prevent.

Parrish, who announced his intent to run for chairman of Dothan Board of Education this week, needed to be a resident of Dothan to qualify as a candidate. His property was outside the city limits, although some neighboring tracts were not. Having his property annexed was, for Parrish, a no-brainer: “I wanted to be honest,” he said.

Surely a decision would not be so readily apparent to the commission; for no other reason, the political facet of the request would certainly spark some debate among commissioners.

That deliberation belongs in a public meeting. Not only is it the right thing to do, it’s the law.