With county attorney Mitch Powell acting as a teacher, members of the Coweta County Commission and other committee members were schooled in the new Open Meetings Law Tuesday morning.

The new law takes effect July 1 and is a lot stricter than the previous law, Powell said.

The new law states that if a quorum of any government is present at a location and public matters are being discussed, the gathering constitutes a meeting.

Commission Chairman Lawrence Nelms was succinct in his appraisal of the new law.

“That's almost a violation of our civil rights,” he said.

Powell said he believes the law may be challenged on the basis of individuals exercising their right to speak out on a subject.

Commissioner Vernon “Mutt” Hunter offered a simple solution to staying within the boundaries of the new law.

“We just have to stay away from each other,” he said.

Another aspect of the law requires the chairman of the governing body to sign an affidavit after an executive session stating that only matters of personnel, litigation or real estate were discussed during the session.

If the chairman is found to be in violation of the law, he can face up to five years in prison on a felony charge.

The law also makes significant changes to the Open Records Law. Previously, the county's staff had three days to respond to a request for a record. Now, the staff will actually have to produce the document within three days.

“It's really going to penalize the taxpayer since we're going to have extra staff to do this research,” Nelms said.

Hunter agreed with Nelms and said the new law would lead to less openness in government since many governments would try to find a way around the law.

“Somebody's adopting laws who hasn't plowed the mule,” he said.

The county attorney said electing officials was based on public trust, and the effects of this law would be public distrust.

He added the law applied to all elected government officials and any committees that were formed.

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