Wednesday, July 31, 2002

On Oct. 25, 2001, the Fayette County Commission voted to file suit against the town of Tyrone and the city of Fairburn to stop sewer service from crossing into Fayette County and on to Tyrone.

Fayette county went "0 and 3" and lost in a humiliating and expensive lawyer feeding frenzy. At the time the suit was filed, I began watching the local papers to find out when the vote was taken and how each commissioner voted. I never read any article that contained that information. I then began to ask each reporter individually, if they were aware as to when this vote was taken. None seem to know.

Over the last eight months, I've gone to three of the current commissioners and asked them for the same information. To this day, not one has supplied me an answer. This has led me to conduct a through search of the county's website and review all the meeting minutes from 2001 and 2002. What I found was very disturbing.

It seems that our commissioners have a habit of voting in executive session. Doesn't it appear that this is a violation of the Georgia Open Meetings Act? I then filed an Open Records Request to examine the official minutes of the meetings. My findings were that the minutes on the website are exactly reflective of the official minutes at the county administrator's office.

A government body may recess to executive session to discuss three items, legal matters, real estate, or personnel matters However, prior to any vote being taken, the body must reconvene in open public session. This is not the case with our county commissioners. According to the county's website, there appears to have been 19 executive sessions held in which votes were taken in 2001. In 2002, there appears to have been 10 sessions in which voting has taken place.

Why won't the county answer my questions? Why do they continue to ignore the requests of a Fayette County citizen? Why didn't they answer my questions that were posed to them concerning the "White Notebook" that dealt with the county's high-density development plans on Ga. Highway 74 that led Tyrone to annex this area to prevent it from happening? Two commissioners, the county attorney, and the county engineering consultant were all in place when this planning occurred.

It is because of the lack of concern on the county's part to give me an answer and the appearance that some improper conduct has occurred with their executive sessions, I have decided to turn this matter over to Fayette County Solicitor Steve Harris for further investigations. I have also forwarded the information that I have acquired to the state Attorney General's office for review.

I do this with much regret. However, the people of this county deserve to know exactly what is occurring behind the closed doors.

Ronnie Cannon

Tyrone Councilman

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