FAIRHOPE, Ala. — A large group of city officials and staff from around Baldwin County attended a briefing on ethics and sunshine laws Thursday at the Fairhope Civic Center.

“I think it’s close to 100 people,” said Sherry Sullivan, city senior services director, referring to the size of the audience, adding that some of the municipalities represented at the meeting, in addition to a large Fairhope contingent, included Daphne, Spanish Fort, Robertsdale, Foley and Orange Beach.

Mayor Tim Kant said the meeting was prompted by Gary Moore, a member of the Fairhope Planning and Zoning Commission, who said at a recent commission meeting that it had been a couple years since city officials and staff had a meeting on ethics and sunshine laws, and that “it’s time” to have one again.

Ken Smith, deputy director and general counsel of the Alabama League of Municipalities in Montgomery, agreed to provide the briefing, so long as an invitation was extended to other municipalities in Baldwin County.

The meeting lasted two hours, with most of the time devoted to the Alabama Ethics Act. Smith sketched out the broad provisions of the law and then quizzed the audience on specific situations based on opinions rendered by the Alabama Ethics Commission.

The remaining 30 minutes was devoted to the Open Meetings Act, which underwent a major legislative overhaul in 2005.

Although Smith said he would take questions from the cities at the end, and then from the public if there was time, his presentation ran long, he said, which prevented questions from the audience.

However, Ben Cruitt, publisher and editor of the Baldwin Press, did ask a question before the meeting adjourned, stating that some local council members have been polling each other by phone on their votes before council meetings where such deliberation is supposed to take place in the open.

He asked what the Open Meetings Act “has to say about that.”

Smith said, “Technically, that wouldn’t be an open meetings issue because you have to have a quorum for it to be a violation.”

But Smith also said that there could at some point be raised the issue or case of a “serial meeting” which might violate the sunshine law.

“The question is one of degree,” said Smith, adding that if an e-mail were sent to all council members to poll their votes, then that “might be a violation.”

He said in the case of sending e-mails, that would also raise an open records question.

“Once you start sending those e-mails, they are public records,” Smith said.

He said those kinds of records must be retained and are subject to a public records request.