In January 2014, Starkville’s Board of Aldermen (BOA) became the first city in Mississippi to pass an equality resolution, which was repealed in private session by the board on Jan. 6, 2015. In light of the board’s actions and alleged violation of the Ethics Commission’s “Open Meetings Act,” Lynn Spruill confirms she will soon file a complaint against the board with the Ethics Commission.
Spruill, co-manager of Spruill Property Management and Starkville’s former Chief Administrative Officer, said her actions will consist of filing a complaint against the city’s board, not a lawsuit.
“It’s saying that the board is not following the requirements of the Open Meeting Act,” Spruill said. “It’s filing a complaint against the mayor and the Board of Aldermen, and I hate to bring the mayor into it because I know he was not parcel of making those votes, but that’s kind of how you style it. It’s being styled against the Board of Aldermen and how they are doing business.”
According to the Ethics Commission Open Meetings Act, “It being essential to the fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of representative government and to the maintenance of a democratic society that public business be performed in an open and public manner and citizens be advised of and be aware of the performance of public officials and the deliberations and decisions that go into the making of public policy…,” the act reads. 
After confirming her complaint to be filed sometime in late February or early March, Spruill said the wait is due to her thorough preparation of information to present with the complaint.
“I could file now, but I’m not going to,” she said. “When I submit whatever I submit to the Ethics Commission that oversees this issue, I want to make sure I’ve got every piece of information available that is relevant to the complaint included in that submission.”
 Minutes from the  Jan. 6 BOA meeting have yet to be approved and could possibly be up for approval during the Feb. 3 meeting. As follows, the minutes of the meeting from Jan. 20 will be ready at a later date. According to Spruill, her complaint document will include minutes from relevant meetings, minutes from other meetings, agendas from those meetings and information relevant to the sequence of events leading up to the board’s most recent alleged violation. 
“Holding them accountable is what I’m doing,” Spruill said. “You can do it by filing a suit against them in the Chancery Court, or you can do it by filing a complaint with the Ethics Commission saying they violated an open meetings act. So that’s holding them accountable. That is in large part what this is about from my perspective–accountability.”
According to Spruill, it is the citizen’s responsibility to hold the board accountable for all violations. She said Chris Latimer, the BOA’s city attorney, will be prepared to defend the board’s actions.
“Now how they personally perceive that what they’re doing is okay, I don’t know that they do,” she said. “I think they think they are getting away with something.”
According to Spruill, the board has a history of violating public trust and she said their actions will continue if not held accountable.
“It was in 2010 that a particular open meetings violation was due to technicalities,” she said. “It was not posted in the proper place and minutes were not taken.  It was an open meeting, and the mayor had announced that it was an open meeting to take place, and where it was going to be. It was a technical violation.”
Spruill said the recent and private repealing of the equality resolution was not merely just a technical violation, it was intentional.
“It was a ‘we’re going to hide it from everyone and good luck if you can find out what we did,’” she said.  “So I think there is an intention and different violation there. But the reality is, because of the way the law is written, the fact that they had violated it before and had been found for violation, puts them on notice. Anything subsequent to that makes what they do that much worse in terms of the potential punishment to be doled out.”
 Potential repercussions for the board, if the Ethics Commission decides, will include a civil fine of $500 for a first offense and $1,000 for a second offense. Spruill said she hopes her complaint will convince the Ethics Commission the BOA deserve to be held accountable to the highest extent.
“If we can make them behave and not do it again, then the rest will take care of itself at some point,” she said. “The point is to keep them from repeating this terrible behavior they’ve got set up. Then maybe we can go back to having an open government.” 
After highlighting gray areas of the Starkville city government, Spruill said citizen and specifically, student involvement is very necessary. 
“What I want is for people to be involved,” she said. “Because if we had all stayed home and not paid attention to what is going on, then we do deserve the government that we get. But if you get out there and pay attention, vote and do your best to get involved, and let your aldermen know what’s going on, I think that’s part of being a good citizen and part of making a difference. If this can come across to students, because they are here in Starkville, and Starkville does impact them, I would love to see them get registered to vote and participate.”