Stennis Institute of Government

While reading a case that came out yesterday from the Mississippi Court of Appeals (Rankin Group v. City of Richland, No.  2007-CA-02259-COA, 3/17/09) reminded me of how very important the minutes of public entities are to good government.  In fact, what many entities seem to forget is that public entities act through their minutes, so if minutes are ineffective, then the entities don’t act!

The Rankin Group case speaks to appeals taken from actions of public entities, in this case, the City of Richland.  In this particular case the Rankin Group petitioned the Circuit Court to issue a Writ of Mandamus requiring the City of Richland to sign and file a Bill of Exceptions, which is required when an entity’s decision(s) have been appealed.  Richland argued that it did not have to file a Bill of Exceptions because the Rankin Group had not appealed a decisionn of the City.  Under Section 11-51-75, an individual aggrieved of a decision of a municipality has 10 days to appeal the city’s decision.   

The Rankin Group argues that the 10 days begins to run after the minutes are approved, and further argues that it filed a notice of appeal within the 10 days after the minutes were approved.  The Circuit Court found that the Rankin Group was in error.  Section 21-15-33 requires that municipal minutes must be approved at the next meeting or within 30 days, and that once they are approved, the minutes have the legal effect of having been valid from and after the date of the meeting.  While Rankin Group argues that “meeting” means the meeting in which the minutes are approved, the Circuit Judge disagreed.  The Rankin Group appealed, and the Court of Appeals affirmed the Circuit Judge.

According to the Court of Appeals, to accept the meaning that Rankin Group suggests is to accept an interpretation inconsistent with the plain language of the statute.  When an appeal and bill of exceptions are not filed within the prescribed 10 days from the day of adjournment, no court has jurisdiction to consider an appeal.

This blog entry begins a series of entries to follow over the period of the next few days or weeks that will deal with “Minutes 101″.  Stay tuned….