Wednesday, December 26, 2001
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Wednesday, December 26, 2001 |
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Citizen questions secrecy of mediation talks By DAVE
HAMRICK
The Citizen newspaper is formally asking Judge Stephen Boswell to explain his decision to order secret meetings to conduct tax equity mediation between Fayette County and three cities. "The problem is that the judge's order closing the meetings among our elected officials during their talks about our tax money seems to be in clear conflict with the state's open meetings law and years of established case law," said Cal Beverly, Citizen editor and publisher. Boswell issued an order Dec. 14 requiring that the mediation be conducted in private, and that the parties not talk about the discussions. Though the order cites no statutory authority allowing the secret meetings, it holds that the decision is "consistent with the general guidelines for all mediations." "In order to provide an environment conducive to resolution, mediations are conducted in private and information provided is confidential as between the parties and the mediator," said Boswell in his mediation order. Attorneys for the Georgia Press Association agreed with that contention, and advised The Citizen that, if the paper were to take the matter to court, it might lose. "... my opinion is that the mediation can take place in private as other court-ordered mediation normally does," said GPA attorney David Hudson. "However, once agreements or proposals are to be acted on by the governing bodies, I think those should be public meetings," he said. Beverly said he is still concerned, adding that previous secret mediations have been between private parties, not governing bodies. "I say this respectfully, but the judge I'm sure with good intentions seems to be making up law as he goes along, and that should be of concern to all citizens," said Beverly. "We need to remember that these are our local elected officials talking about our tax dollars. If anything should be open and above board, it is tax talk. This is why we are asking the judge to explain his statutory authority in closing these meetings." The Citizen delivered a letter to Boswell Thursday asking for that explanation. Meanwhile, mediation talks continued Friday as they began last Monday, behind closed doors. But in the initial meeting, quorums of all four governments were present. During that meeting, the ground rules for subsequent meetings were set, and negotiations can take place between a smaller group of representatives of the County Commission and city councils. "The initial meeting which included quorums from more than one elected body was especially troubling," said Beverly. "Four governing bodies, each with a quorum of members, met jointly behind doors closed to the public. There is just nothing in Georgia law that allows such gatherings to be closed. There is plenty in Georgia law that says they must be open to the public." Professional mediator Timothy Keim, appointed by Boswell, is facilitating the meetings in hopes of resolving the long-standing, often heated tax dispute. Officials in Fayetteville, Peachtree City and Tyrone say their residents are taxed for more services than they receive from the county about $2 million a year and last January they took that contention to court, asking a visiting judge to appoint a mediator and order the county to the table. City leaders insist that the inequity must be addressed because of a state law that prohibits taxing residents of a city for services primarily received by residents of the unincorporated county. County leaders say there's no tax inequity, and broke off discussions with city officials on the matter last year. County attorneys challenged the cities' request for mandatory mediation, but lost that case in November. The parties now have 60 days to reach agreement, or the dispute could go back to court.
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