Wednesday, January 30, 2002
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Wednesday, January 30, 2002 |
| Local judges
bow out of Citizen Open Meetings suit as secret tax talks continue
By DAVE HAMRICK
All of Fayette's Superior Court judges have now disqualified themselves to hear The Citizen's lawsuit against Fayette County and its three largest cities, and a visiting judge has been appointed. The judge's name had not been announced as of late Tuesday afternoon. The Citizen is seeking to halt mediation talks between the county and the cities of Fayetteville, Peachtree City and Tyrone pending a hearing to determine whether the mediation can legally be conducted in secret. The action came after visiting Judge Stephen Boswell, who is overseeing the mediation, refused to respond to The Citizen's earlier written request that he explain his reasons for closing the talks. The lawyer for the newspaper, Fayetteville attorney Don Johnson, also has issued requests for any and all documents produced as a result of the mediation, citing the state open records statutes. The governments involved have refused to give up the documents, citing the judge's secrecy order and arguing that the documents are exempted from open records laws because pending litigation is involved. Lawyers for the governments also objected to The Citizen's use of the word "secret" in characterizing the meetings, saying it has negative connotations and is inflamatory. "Your choice of the word 'secret' totally mischaracterizes the court-ordered mediation and I believe is used to inflame conditions," said Peachtree City Attorney Rick Lindsey in his response. Citizen Publisher Cal Beverly invited the lawyers to look the word up in the dictionary. "Let's review this for them," Beverly wrote in his column beginning on the front page. "The judge ordered all tax talks to be conducted in utter secrecy. No one outside the judge and the lawyers and the appointed representatives knows where the meetings are conducted, how often, who attends, what is being discussed, what citizens' monies are being bargained and traded for, what information is being used to come to decisions nor even what our elected representatives think about the whole process." The court-ordered mediation is aimed at resolving a long-standing dispute over tax equity. City officials have maintained that their residents are taxed for more services than they receive from the county about $2 million a year. County leaders say there is no tax inequity, that city residents receive more than their fair share of services. Boswell ordered mediation after the cities filed a formal request that he do so. As part of those proceedings, 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. Beverly decided to question the legal grounds for the secrecy order, he said, because the parties involved are not private citizens, as in most court-ordered mediations, but governing bodies, and the matters they are discussing involve taxpayers' interests. "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 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." The Citizen's objections could soon be moot. According to sources close to the mediation, the parties hope to reach a conclusion soon. And if they don't, the law allows only 60 days for the mediation, and that time is about up. After that, court action may follow.
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