The Wichita City Council may have violated the open meetings law during its session to hire a new city manager. The public was shutout from the meeting held at city hall on Tuesday night.

To cover the council meeting at city hall Tuesday night, all media personnel were required to preregister and check in through security. Security would not allow people not on the list to attend. Some say this might be a problem because closed-door meetings could be a violation of the open meetings law.

The city calls what happened Tuesday an honest misunderstanding. They say security did not realize everyone was supposed to be allowed into the meeting.

Council member Bob Martz says the city did not mean to hold an illegal closed meeting. He says the conflict was a glitch in city hall’s new security protocol.

Council member Sharon Feary says it was a mistake from the start to have these new security measures. She says the city should not make it harder for the public to use a public building because of a possible threat to security.

Martz says he doesn't like the situation, but he says in this day and age there is no other choice.

The city says that from now on, city hall security must be told in advance about any after hours meetings.