INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Commissioner Bob Solari’s objections to STIRLEN, a non-profit formed to restore the lagoon, were put to rest at today’s County Commission meeting when County Attorney Dylan Reingold said the group’s activities do not violate Florida’s Sunshine Law.
Two weeks ago, at Solari’s insistence, the Commission instructed Reingold to research the question.
The action seemed odd because “Florida’s Government-in-the-Sunshine Law was enacted in 1967 [to] establish a basic right of access to most meetings of . . . state and local governmental agencies or authorities,” according to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Because STIRLEN — Save The Indian Lagoon Estuary Now, Inc. — is a private not-for-profit corporation, the law clearly has no bearing on the group’s meetings or other activities. In addition, STIRLEN’s recent workshop seeking solutions to the lagoon’s ecological woes was an open, recorded meeting the press and public were invited to attend.
At the Commission meeting two weeks ago, Scott Stradley, a member of the non-profit’s board of directors, explained the distinction to Solari, pointing out the group intentionally took a form not subject to the Sunshine Law so that scientists who participate in its workshops will be able to talk one-on-one or in small groups without having to post notice of formal meetings.
The Sunshine Laws prohibit government officials, such as Solari and the other commissioners, from talking over government matters with other government officials in secret so as to avoid corruption.
STIRLEN is a private group that receives no government money and exercises no government power, so the safeguard doesn’t extend to it or other privately-funded non-profits in the county.
Reingold today reiterated that STIRLEN is not bound by Sunshine.
“Essentially, private entities are not subject to the Sunshine Law,” Reingold said.