We are the TVA, shh, we have secrets and treat our ratepayers like mushrooms. Meanwhile, the local political gentry care specifically about TVA in lieu of tax money, not about the health, welfare and law governing the actions of government.
The TVA has a continuing problem with open deliberations as required by the Federal Sunshine Act. Commission Chairperson Sadie Bias along with Chamber of Commerce Director Rick Roden attended a tour, luncheon and discussion of Bellefonte prior to a TVA Board decission with a quorum of TVA Board members and staff concerning the Bellefonte Plant. Decisions do not have to be made for the law to be violated, any deliberation of an issue which may come before the board at a later date is a violation. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110910/NEWS11/309100046/Critics-say-TVA-operates-secrecy
The "Tennessean" article quotes Spokeswoman Barbara Martocci, "[she] said informal board gatherings are briefings that meet the letter of the law..." "Board Chairman Dennis Bottorff of Nashville said great effort is made to be open.“That was a tour,” he said. “There weren't any kind of decisions being made."
If a briefing is conducted that is a discussion of information which may come before the board at a later date. The meeting was not just a luncheon as TVA officials would have you to believe, it was a "briefing" and discussion about the nuclear plant as TVA officials admit. The Federal Sunshine Law contains more than just provisions for decission making, the law covers deliberations of a quorum of Board Members.
Issues of Open Meetings and secret decission making has been an issue for the Jackson County Commission on previous occasions. The TVA has been chastised for its brand of secrecy as a government entity. It frequently attempts to use excuses such as commercial exceptions to avoid Freedom of Information Act disclosures. The TVA Committee process is a ruse to disguise secret meetings where approvals are made behind closed doors prior to the TVA Board meetings.
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