Monday night's Wendell town board meeting came and went without so much as a word about whether the town board intends to follow state law and explain why they fired town manager Hugh Montgomery.

New language added to the state's personnel law in 2010 requires that town boards explain in writing to an employee why he or she was terminated. It also says the document must set out the specific acts or omissions that led to the employee's termination.

That same law also requires that such a document is public record.

The day after commissioners terminated Montgomery, the Eastern Wake News requested a copy of the letter explaining the commissioners' decision. Montgomery, by all accounts, had acquitted himself well as the town's manager, representing the commission's interests in several areas.

That document, called a notice of dismissal, should shed some light on it.

At the time of our initial request, town attorney Jim Cauley reported that no such document had yet been generated. He later said the law does not require the town to create one.

Everybody - except the people he's hired to represent - seems to disagree with Cauley.

A written opinion from the N.C. Attorney General's office, intended to clarify the meaning of the law, says specifically that the document must be created. It also reminds government officials that the document is public record.

First amendment attorney Amanda Martin, who represents the North Carolina newspapers' trade association, argued in comments last week that she didn't see how anyone could read the law otherwise.

She argues that the law, taken in context with the attorney general's opinion makes it crystal clear that the town has an obligation to produce the notice.

In fact, other government agencies have already complied with the law, meaning Wendell would not be creating a precedent.

And yet, as of this writing, the town has yet to provide the documents required under state law.