This interaction set Meyers into a three-year battle with the county to operate in the sunshine. With the help of the Susan Knight Fund and attorneys who took the case contingent on winning, Meyers took his fight to the courts.

The EPG, as a group of officials who are designated to support specific needs and policies during emergencies, had met several times during the COVID-19 without notice to the public and without taking meeting minutes for public review. All this despite its law-making ability.

According to the Sunshine Law, any board or commission with the authority of any county or state agency is subject to public scrutiny where “official acts are to be taken are declared to be public meetings open to the public at all times” and minutes should be prepared and provided for public inspection.

Osceola County argued that the EPG was not subject to the Sunshine Law because it could not enact laws or orders, but instead was tasked with making recommendations and conducting fact-finding. However, as the order showed, the EPG was given more authority than that. That’s why the Ninth Circuit Court ruled in favor of Meyers, granting him both

Meyers and his lawyer at the time filed for records through the state’s sunshine laws to get meeting minutes from the EPG only to be told the group didn’t take meeting minutes.

The fight is still on for Meyers. His lawyers are currently awaiting another judgment over the attorney’s fees, which the county was ordered to pay but has argued was excessive at $128,000. To show his team did not spend as much as the county on attorney’s fees, Meyers submitted another records request only to be told it would cost $250 per hour for redacting information from the invoices he asked for.

“They said they need 6 hours at $250 to redact invoices,” Meyers said. “My question is who is redacting and what is there to redact? …Ultimately I have the Sunshine Law to get the documents and (my lawyers also) have a discovery request.”

Additionally, Meyers said he’s still working to make sure the public can be involved in the community. Recently, the county changed the way it takes public comment for issues such that the public is invited to speak at a meeting separate from the commission meetings, but is not allowed to speak at the commission meetings on issues being debated or voted upon.

Meyers did not set out to be a Sunshine enforcer, but now he’s doing it and plans to keep doing it when he knows things aren’t being done the right way.

“I would do it again,” he said. “If they won’t behave, I will do it again.”