Reportedly, the practice of releasing innocuous minutes from closed sessions is not followed by many local governments. The Haywood County Commissioners, however, decided at their last meeting to release what minutes they could. According to the Smoky Mountain News:
That’s not surprising, given the background of Chairman Mark Swanger, who won the North Carolina Press Association’s First Amendment Award in 2006 and spent much of his professional life combating corruption in a 32-year career with the FBI.
