State Issues Harsh Warning to Ocean Springs Over Secret Meetings

Ethics Commission: “Every board member who attended would have violated the law.”

OCEAN SPRINGS, MS – The Mississippi Ethics Commission has issued a clear warning to Ocean Springs officials:  Don’t try that again.

In a new ruling tied to a complaint over a series of secretly planned meetings designed to shut out the public, the Commission cautioned the city that similar future actions would likely violate the state’s Open Meetings Act and involve fines of at least $500 per alderman.

The warning comes after GC Wire reported in real time that the meetings had been deliberately structured in small groups — a setup widely known as a “walking quorum” — before being abruptly cancelled less than an hour after publication.

How It All Started

In October, a series of meetings set between city elected officials and State Rep. Hank Zuber were scheduled in a way that shut out the public and media — an exact scenario the Mississippi Supreme Court has ruled violates the state’s Open Meetings Act.

Board of Aldermen members were instructed to meet with Zuber in a sequence of small, private gatherings arranged by Mayor’s Assistant Laurri Garcia.

Text messages sent to aldermen by Garcia divided the board into three groups:

• 4:30 p.m. — Aldermen Karen Stennis, Steve Tillis, Matthew Hinton
• 5:00 p.m. — Aldermen Shannon Pfeiffer, Rob Blackman, Julie Messenger
• Later (time TBD) — Alderman Kevin Wade and Mayor Bobby Cox

When Alderman Pfeiffer privately raised concerns about the legality of the meetings, Garcia responded by text: 

“He’s meeting with three, then three. Bobby and Kevin are at another time.”

The effect was simple: every elected official would meet with the legislator — just never four at once, the number required for a quorum and to trigger public notice under Mississippi law. The city’s setup was unmistakably designed to skirt that law.

Less than an hour after GC Wire published an article exposing the potentially illegal meetings, they were abruptly cancelled.

But Garcia’s text response did not go unnoticed by the Commission.

Ethics Commission Reaction

The ruling, written by Executive Director Tom Hood, did not mince words.

“Clearly, if the board had gone through with the meetings as scheduled in the text message exchanges, then every board member who attended would have violated the Open Meetings Act and would have been subject to civil penalties,” Hood stated in the ruling.

He further clarified those penalties could have been “$500 for a first offense or $1,000 for a subsequent offence.”

The ruling goes further than simply describing the structure. It hits on the role of intent, a key factor in determining whether sub-quorum meetings cross the line into illegality. The Commission noted that the Ocean Springs gatherings were prearranged and deliberately composed of fewer than a quorum, and that the purpose was to discuss city business.

In similar cases, courts have found the mere act of planning these types of meetings can trigger the Open Meetings Act when used to avoid a public audience.

The Meetings That Never Happened

The complaint, originally filed by GC Wire, was ultimately recommended for dismissal. Not because the structure was approved. And not because the conduct was deemed acceptable.

Rather because the meetings never took place.

After GC Wire’s reporting raised legal concerns, the city cancelled their scheduled gatherings before they occurred. That timing proved decisive. Without the actual meetings, the Commission concluded, no violation technically occurred.

But the ruling leaves little room for interpretation.

The structure of the city’s planned meetings, the purpose behind them, and the potential consequences were all laid out in plain terms.

Despite the dismissal, the ruling provides a clear win for transparency.