Wednesday, February 13, 2002
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Wednesday, February 13, 2002 |
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Fulton judge named to hear Citizen's secrecy suit By DAVE
HAMRICK Fulton County senior Judge John Langford has been appointed to hear The Citizen's lawsuit seeking to halt secret mediation meetings between representatives of Fayette and its three largest cities. Langford late Tuesday set a hearing for Thursday, Feb. 21 at 9:30 a.m. The date falls after the court-ordered deadline for mediation talks to conclude, but Citizen attorney Don Johnson said Tuesday that a lawyer for the state attorney general's office, who is representing Judge Stephen Boswell in the case, can't attend any earlier. All of Fayette's judges disqualified themselves in The Citizen's suit citing conflict of interest. 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 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. Lawyers for the newspaper also have 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. 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. Citizen Publisher Cal Beverly said he decided to question the legal grounds for the secrecy order 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. "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," he said.
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