EXCERPT:

The city of Knoxville has appointed a task force to come up with solutions to the municipality's long-term pension funding problems, but officials say at least some of the panel's meetings will be in secret.

That's an affront to the residents of Knoxville, who could be on the hook for millions of dollars in increased payments to the pension plan, and to employees, whose retirement benefits hang in the balance.

Knoxville taxpayers will have to pay $9 million this year just to keep the pension plan solvent. By 2019, that amount is estimated to rise to close to $30 million, which is about what it costs to run the fire department.

...Secret meetings might be legal, but they aren't healthy.

To read the full story, please go to the Knoxville News Sentinel.