The board of directors for Rowan’s Department of Social Services is slated to take up
an important topic Tuesday: the status of board member Lee Piper, recently convicted of
contributing to the delinquency of minors. Before the board proceeds, it would do well to
review the state’s open meetings law, which states:“A public body may not consider the qualifications,
competence, performance, character, fitness, appointment, or removal of a member of the
public body or another body and may not consider or fill a vacancy among its own
membership except in an open meeting” (italics added).
The board reportedly plans to go into closed
session to consider the issue. Unless Social Services has special exemptions not cited in
the Open Meetings Law, that sounds like an illegal move.
Piper could do everyone a favor by quietly
resigning and making this a moot point. Social Services does not need this kind of
controversy. It’s time to let someone else have a turn on the board. But if
she’s determined to stay, and fellow board members feel otherwise, they should air
those matters in public. Too much has been said behind the scenes already.
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