DAPHNE — City Council members had planned to adjourn into executive session at Monday night’s meeting to discuss candidates for the vacant fire chief post.

But that didn’t happen, courtesy of the state’s Open Meetings Law.

Council members ultimately decided that they would each review the approximately 35 resumes independently and establish a list of their own top five contenders, to be compared collectively later.

They also agreed to have their lists completed within the next two weeks.

Prior to this decision, city attorney Jay Ross explained the state law to council members as they debated whether to go into a closed session.

Both he and City Clerk David Cohen agreed that the fire chief applications became a matter of public record once they were submitted.

Ross said that some private information, such as Social Security numbers, would probably not be made public.

“This law, which was passed by the Alabama Legislature, states that if you are a public employee who makes more than $50,000, you’re required to file a statement of economic interest with the state Ethics Commission,” Ross said following the meeting.

“Then anything about your job performance is a matter of open record, open debate,” he said. “So if they want to talk to an employee about his or her job performance for evaluation purposes then it has to be done in the open, under this law.”

This law has 24 specific categories “for which this must be done in the open, including fire chief,” Ross said.

“And then, if you make over $50,000, you still have to be in an open meeting.”

He said he believes council is acting in good faith as they begin this hiring process.

“There’s no question that they want to do the right thing. But they’re having to try and balance the protection of the individual who wants to make an application (but perhaps hasn’t told their current employer) versus the Open Meetings Law and the public’s right to know,” Ross said.

One exception might allow for some discussion behind closed doors, he said.

“There is an exception in the law that if you talk about someone’s general character or reputation, good or bad, that can be done in private,” Ross said.

Council member Cathy Barnette had questions about going into a closed session even before the meeting began.

“I’m just not sure we can do this since the position does pay over $50,000,” Barnette said.

Council President Greg Burnam said during the discussion, “I just can’t believe that an employment application is public.”

But Councilman Gus Palumbo countered, saying, “It’s not an employment application, it’s a public official application.

“And as I understand the law, this (fire) chief position is a public official.”