Secret meeting.

A source familiar with the inner workings of the Thayer City Council told me last night that after the election Tuesday night, the city council held a secret meeting, where they created a new position in the city government -- city administrator, and they hired Gary Barton, the man TCBA wanted the city to hire as economic developer.

Can they hold secret meetings? Missouri's Sunshine Law declares that “It is the public policy of this state that meetings, records, votes, actions, and deliberations of public governmental bodies be open to the public unless otherwise provided by law." As far as I can tell, there was no promotion of this meeting, and there have been thus far no news reporting of it afterward. The law provides that:

At least 24 hours (excluding weekends and holidays) before a public
meeting, the public body must prominently post a notice of the meeting in its
principal office. If there is no such office, the public body should post the
notice at the meeting place.

The notice must include:

Time of meeting;

Date of meeting;

Place of meeting;

Tentative agenda of an open meeting;

and Whether the meeting is open or closed.

If the public body intends to hold a meeting by conference call or other electronic means, the notice must specify the location where the public may observe and attend that meeting. If the public body meets via Internet or other computer link, it shall post a notice on its Web site in addition to posting the notice at its principal office.
If exceptional circumstances prevent the public body from posting notice 24 hours in advance or prevent the meeting from being held at a convenient time or in a place
reasonably accessible to the public, the reasons should be stated in the
meeting’s minutes.

As far as I can tell, NONE of this happened.

Now, onto my next point: Can the city council create a job and fill it, without advertising for people to apply?