Wednesday, July 3, 2002
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Wednesday, July 3, 2002 |
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Cities, county want open meetings suit dismissed
By JOHN
MUNFORD
The governing bodies of Fayette County, Peachtree City, Fayetteville and Tyrone want a judge to dismiss an open meetings lawsuit that has been filed against them in Superior Court. The suit, brought by The Citizen, claims the elected officials violated Georgia open meetings laws when they met in secret, closed negotiations beginning in December over a dispute over alleged tax inequities. A hearing on the matter is set for Thursday, Aug. 15, at 9:30 a.m. The secret, closed "mediation" meetings were conducted in accordance with an order from visiting Superior Court Judge Stephen E. Boswell of Jonesboro, who approved the cities' request for mediation in an attempt to settle the dispute. Boswell also issued an effective gag order in the case, restraining any of the parties from discussing the negotiations "until such time as the underlying litigation is resolved." Boswell was also named as a defendant in the suit, and he has a high-profile "defense" attorney: Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker. In response to The Citizen's initial complaint, Senior Superior Court Judge John S. Langford approved a temporary restraining order in March that forbids all parties in the tax equity mediation from meeting in secret until the matter could be settled. Since then, the mediation has ceased with no progress and Fayetteville has opted out of the suit, although Peachtree City and Tyrone continue to battle with the county about funding levels for police, recreation and public works. The cities claim the county overtaxes its citizens in that the county doesn't provide certain services to residents of the municipalities. Part of that theory is based on findings of a consulting firm that determined Peachtree City residents should be refunded $1.365 million and Tyrone residents $118,803 for the alleged tax inequity. The governing bodies claim that Judge Boswell's order forced them to meet in secret. They also claim that at no time was there ever a quorum of any governing body present. To constitute a "meeting" of a public agency, Georgia law requires that a quorum of the officials the legal amount required to pass an action be present. The cities and county also claim they were merely following the guidelines of Georgia's service delivery strategy act, which is the law used by the cities to amend the tax funding levels. Also, they cited a Superior Court rule that requires all mediations ordered by the court to be conducted in secrecy. The defendants also claim the complaint is moot since the mediation has ceased.
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