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LAMAN V. MCCORD

[245

Appeal from Pulaski Circuit Court, Second Division; Warren E. Wood, Judge ; affirmed. John T. Harman and Leon B. Catlett for appellants. Rose, Meek, House, Barron, Nash & Williamson for

appellees.

Justice. On April 24, 1967, the North Little Rock city council held a regular meeting at the city hall. At the end of the meeting the council voted to go into closed session with the mayor and city attorney to discuss a Public Service Commission proceeding to which the city was a party. All members of the public, including one of the appellees, were excluded from the closed session. GEORGE ROSE SMITH,

The appellees, then the editor and managing editor of The Times, a North Little Rock newspaper, brought this suit against the mayor, city attorney, and aldermen, for a judgment declaring that the closed session had been in violation of our Freedom of Information Act. Act 93 of 1967; Ark. Stat. Ann., Title 12, Ch. 28 (Supp. 1967). This appeal is from a judgment declaring that the meeting was in violation of the act and that the city council cannot meet secretly to discuss legal matters with the city attorney. The Freedom of Information Act, dealing with public records and public meetings, was passed at the first regular session of the legislature following two decisions of this court defining to some extent a citizen's right to examine public records. Republican Party of Ark. v. State ex rel. Hall, 240 Ark. 545, 400 S.W. 2d 660 (1966) ; Gaspard v. Whorton, 239 Ark. 849, 394 S.W. 2d 621 (1965). As far as the case at bar is concerned, the pertinent parts of the act are as follows: • Section 2. Declaration of Public Policy. It is vital in a democratic society that public business be performed in an open and public manner so that