It's rare that a Branson city meeting goes by that John Logan doesn't speak during the public commentary section of the meeting. Sometimes, John doesn't have a new issue to bring up then their are times when he hits home hard. Last Branson city counsel meeting Logan hit hard on the Pointe Royale issue. His diatribe began with patriotic fervor, the kind that makes you tense up a little....then he delivered. He asked Terry Dody if the City of Branson and Pointe Royale had engaged in a transaction selling the public road. They answered ... "yes" and wouldn't release the details of the transaction.
Pointe Royal and the City of Branson have had some issues over the years. The private gated community has historically had elements that were public property. A checkpoint and gate at the entrance blocked public access to the public road. This was always a little bit irritating knowing that the guard had no right to ask for any information or to deny access to the tax payer funded road. Imagine if someone setup a toll road in the middle of the highway and you can catch my drift.
Eventually, after some pressure from Terry Dody a deal was reached between Pointe Royale and city administration. The cost for the city to build and maintain the road was the selling price for the gated community to buy the road from the city. According to the sunshine law land deals can be closed from the public. This is for good reason so that the value doesn't inflate during negotiations. Here's the problem:
Two City Council members live in Pointe Royale. Beverly Martin, who is not running for re-election and Alderman Dick Gass both live in Pointe Royale. Logan's concern about the details involved with who voted and how the vote was conducted. The obvious conflict of interest between the land sell to the Property Owner's Association is something Logan went in to research as he filed a sunshine law request. According to Logan Ron Herschend was told to leave Branson City Hall when he attempted to follow up on Logan's half fulfilled sunshine request.
Seagull will be addressing the Missouri Sunshine Law issue in tomorrow's paper though the facts about the players will be left out. What he does engage is the City's actions in regards to the Sunshine Law. He questions whether or not the meeting should have been in closed session and what the implications are if such a small transaction isn't conducted in a legal and ethical manner - particularly as it relates to Missouri's policies which help the public interest and protect their "right to know"
