Kinney v. Southern Mississippi Planning & Development District, Inc.

COLEMAN, JUSTICE,

FOR THE COURT:

¶1. In 2013, Henry W. Kinney began reading news stories in the local and state newspapers regarding; the selection of Leonard Bentz II as Southern Mississippi Planning and Development District’s executive director. More specifically, the stories Kinney read related to the closed-door selection of Bentz as executive director. According to Kinney, he became “curious as to how an agency he believed to be public could conduct its business behind closed doors and not provide the public access to its books and records.”

¶2. Kinney filed several record requests under…