Wednesday, July 3, 2002
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Wednesday, July 3, 2002 |
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Solicitor: PTC council members used loophole to follow state open meetings law
By JOHN
MUNFORD
Fayette County Solicitor Steve Harris has concluded an investigation into an open meetings complaint that was lodged against the Peachtree City Council by a private citizen. And while he has decided council didn't violate Georgia's open meetings laws in this instance, Harris said some council members took advantage of a loophole in the open meetings statute. Harris's investigation showed that several council members used one-on-one phone conversations and e-mails to discuss council's options to investigate alleged bogus contracts before the matter was considered and voted on during a May 16 council meeting. These types of "loopholes" are used routinely by other government agencies, Harris noted. Mayor Steve Brown defended his decision to discuss the matter individually with other council members, and particularly his decision to withhold that conversation from fellow council member Annie McMenamin. "I've got every right to call a council member and discuss anything I want to," Brown said, although he admitted that keeping the matter secret from McMenamin didn't serve a practical purpose. "I felt I had to be very careful and make sure I knew the facts before I brought it up at a meeting," Brown said. Brown has claimed he held the one-on-one discussions with council members outside of a meeting and didn't clue McMenamin in because her daughter works for the same law firm that employs City Attorney Rick Lindsey. Georgia law requires that certain governmental meetings should be open to the public if there is a gathering of a quorum of the body "... at which any public matter, officials business or policy of the agency is to be discussed or presented or at which officials action is to be taken ...". The vote in question at the May 16 meeting, which passed 4-0-1 with McMenamin abstaining, authorized councilman Murray Weed to prepare a list of potential attorneys council could hire to investigate the propriety of contracts signed by then-mayor Bob Lenox last year after council authorized him to do so. McMenamin said she abstained from the vote because the meeting was the first she had heard about the need to hire a special attorney. The contracts have been called into question with several council members saying the contracts they authorized Lenox to sign last year were altered significantly from the version they approved. Lenox and Lindsey have said the changes were given to all council members before council voted to allow the mayor to sign the contracts. Harris explained that he consulted with the Georgia Attorney General's office before making his final decision on the matter. Under Georgia law, the state Attorney General is charged with prosecuting violations of Georgia's open meetings statute through either criminal or civil proceedings if necessary. The open meetings law provides that any person who "knowingly and willfully" conducts or participates in a meeting in violation of the law shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and can face a fine of up to $500.
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