Sneaky Six in Chattanooga carry on troubling tradition of Hamilton County Commission
Is it open, transparent government when six Hamilton County commissioners, after weeks of public meetings where they and the public heard detailed budget requests, vote to give themselves $100,000 each out of the county's rainy-day fund with no public discussion or explanation? No. Times Free Press columnist Jay Greeson called them the Sneaky Six in a Sunday column, and it's a moniker that deserves to stick. The Hamilton County Commission has skated the edges of the Open Meetings Act and its principles before. These are the same county commissioners who keep phones at their dais and make private calls to each other during the meeting -- covering their mouths so their microphones [...]