City Quietly Rebrands Committees in Apparent Move to Avoid Transparency Laws

Insiders Say Name Change Was Meant to Skirt Public Records

OCEAN SPRINGS, MS – City officials in Ocean Springs have quietly stopped using the word “committee” when assigning aldermen to key oversight roles, but according to multiple city insiders, the change was not mere cosmetics – it was deliberate, and designed to evade Mississippi’s Open Meetings and Public Records laws.

Rather than forming a “Finance Committee” or “HR Committee,” the Board of Aldermen now appoints members to “assist” various departments.

The appointments happen the same way as committees are formed — motions, seconds, and roll call votes during a Board of Aldermen meeting — but without the legal obligations that come with public committees: open meetings, notices, and written minutes.

The move, insiders told GC Wire, was suggested behind closed doors by senior staff after a journalist requested information about committee meetings and recorded minutes earlier this year.

“We Don’t Have Committees”

During the July 1, 2025 Board of Aldermen meeting, newly seated members were asked to take up a routine agenda item for newly seated boards: assignments for departmental oversight.

Ward 4 Alderman Shannon Pfeiffer began by saying, “We’re going to talk about our individual committees.”

Mayor Bobby Cox quickly interjected:

“We don’t have committees.”

But what followed was a series of formal motions, seconds, and unanimous votes — appointing aldermen to groups that function identically to previous committees

Past Records Contradict Denial

Mayor Cox’s claim that the city “doesn’t have committees” contradicts years of official records — including his own prior actions as Alderman-At-Large.

In July 2017, Cox himself made the motion to appoint a “Finance Committee,” placing himself, Robert Blackman, and Mike Papania on it. The vote passed unanimously.

In July 2021, the Board again formally voted to create a Finance Committee and Human Resources Committee — this time appointing aldermen through motions by name, just as they did this year.

The difference in 2025? Only the wording changed — not the function.

Mississippi Law: You Can’t Dodge the Rules by Renaming

According to Mississippi Code § 25-41-3(a), any “committee or subcommittee of any public body” is subject to the Open Meetings Act. That includes:

• Public notice of meetings,
• Open access for residents,
• And keeping written minutes.

Changing the name from “committee” to “assistant” doesn’t matter. If a group of aldermen are appointed to oversee a specific area of city operations, it’s a committee under the law — regardless of whether they are called a committee, assistants, or even Santa’s helpers.

The Email That Likely Sparked the Shift

According to the insiders, the change appears to have spawned after a March 5 email from this reporter to City Clerk Patty Gaston.

The email simply asked for the names of the aldermen on the Finance Committee. Gaston replied promptly with the answer, “Rickey Authement, Robert Blackman, and Mike Impey.”

But when pressed in a follow-up email later that day — asking how often they met and whether their minutes were public — Gaston never replied.

In July, the city stopped referring to any aldermanic assignments as “committees” at all.

“They didn’t want the public requesting the minutes,” said one official familiar with internal discussions.

A Long Pattern of Committees — and Conscious Decisions to Use Them

This isn’t the first time Ocean Springs has debated whether to use committees. According to Board of Aldermen minutes from March 2019, the Mayor and several aldermen had a full discussion about whether to re-form a Finance Committee in advance of budget season.

At the time, Alderman Gill noted that the committee had been previously abolished because some believed budget decisions should involve the full board through work sessions. Other officials, including City Clerk Patty Gaston and then-Mayor Shea Dobson, said reestablishing the Finance Committee could still serve a valuable role in doing groundwork before the full board weighed in.

In that discussion, everyone acknowledged the Finance Committee had existed, had been recently dissolved, and could be re-formed if desired.

In short, Ocean Springs didn’t just “not have committees” — it debated them, voted on them, used them, or didn’t — depending on the year and leadership.

But this year is different. No public debate. No vote to abolish anything. No work session. Just a quiet switch in language — and what seemed like a denial that committees ever existed at all.

Although City Clerk Patty Gaston was reportedly scheduled to retire on July 15, she remained in the office beyond that date. A Friday call placed to City Hall confirmed she was present. A follow-up email was sent for further clarification of the advisory roles, but as of this writing, no response has been received.

Who Was Appointed to What

At this year’s July 1 meeting — following the claim that “we don’t have committees” — the Board proceeded to appoint aldermen to specific oversight roles through formal motions and votes. The structure mirrored past committee appointments in every way but name. Here is what resulted:

• Human Resources Oversight:
  Appointed to “assist the HR department”:
  Karen Stennis, Julie Messenger, and Steve Tillis
  
  
• Finance Oversight:
  Appointed to “assist the City Clerk”:
  Rob Blackman, Kevin Wade, and Matthew Hinton
  
  
• Insurance Oversight:
  Appointed to assist with property, casualty, and medical benefits:
  Steve Tillis, Karen Stennis, and Mayor Bobby Cox
  
  
• Engineering Oversight:
  Appointed to assist with public works and capital projects:
  Kevin Wade and Matthew Hinton

Transparency Promised — But Not Yet Delivered

Ocean Springs voters sent a clear message in the recent election: they wanted transparency, accountability, and a break from closed-door governance. Several longtime officials were ousted in landslide defeats, and the incoming board promised change.

But at their very first meeting, the new administration continued an old pattern — appointing aldermen to oversight roles identical to past committees, just under different names. The process was the same. The responsibilities were the same. Only the label changed.

Under Mississippi law, what matters is function — not terminology. Whether called committees or “assistants,” these groups are still public bodies. And the public still has the right to know what they’re doing.

Ocean Springs promised transparency. Now residents are expecting them to deliver it.