all meetings ... of the governing bodies of all municipalities . . . shall be public meetings." The key word is "specifically," meaning " explicitly," "definitely," "in so many words." The legislature itself provided a specific exception in Section 5 of the act, having to do with personnel matters. It did not see fit to provide a similar exception for meetings between the city council and the city attorney.
The attorney-client privilege, originally a common-law immunity, now rests upon a section of the Civil Code, adopted in 1869, which provides that an attorney is incompetent to testify about his client's communications without the client's consent. Ark. Stat. Ann. § 28-601 (Repl. 1962). For us to say that the section just cited, dealing only with a testimonial disqualification, "specifically" provides that the city council may consult its attorney in secret would simply amount to striking the word "specifically" from the Freedom of Information Act.
A point not to be overlooked is that the legislature necessarily had to make a policy decision in drafting the Freedom of Information Act. On the one hand, to deny to the city council the right to meet in secret with the city attorney might in some instances work to the public disadvantage. But, on the other hand, to allow the council to go into executive session at any time, upon the pretext of consulting the city attorney about legal matters, might readily open the door to repeated and undetectable evasions of the Freedom of Information Act—also to the public disadvantage. Policy decisions such as that are peculiarly within the province of the legislative branch of the government. In this instance that branch has spoken so unequivocally that its command cannot be misunderstood. Our duty is simply to give effect to its mandate.
The trial court was right; its judgment is affirmed.
Harris, C.J. and Fogleman, J., concur.
