Fayette’s new in-house counsel served as Commissioner Maxwell’s lawyer in suit against Fayette

Fayette County’s new in-house attorney, Scott Bennett, admitted earlier this summer that he had given the city of McDonough bad legal advice on an ordinance banning cameras from public meetings. Turns out his advice, if followed, would have been a violation of the state open meetings law.

Bennett was McDonough's attorney until last week when he was approved as Fayette County’s first in-house attorney. But just this past July, he told the McDonough City Council that it was OK to ban video cameras from public meetings.

Bennett was also County Commissioner Eric Maxwell’s attorney when Maxwell filed a successful lawsuit against Fayette County in 2004 over the sign ordinance, before Maxwell ran and won the commission seat.

Henry Herald reporter Jaya Franklin covered the controversy this summer when resident Ed Coughlin was ordered to remove his camera from a planning commission meeting.

“He told the [McDonough] City Council that he made a mistake in telling them it was OK to pass the ordinance,” Franklin said.

The issue was also covered by Fox 5’s Dale Russell, who did a special I-Team investigation. In the report, Coughlin was greeted by three deputies when he tried to take his camera to a City Council meeting that involved a controversial annexation request.

“I just find it odd that Bennett reprimanded us when we (residents) said that the resolution didn’t follow the sunshine law. He said that he did his homework and could cite cases,” said Coughlin in the Henry Herald’s account of the story.

Bennett talked to Russell about the issue over the phone, but told the reporter he didn’t want to talk on-camera about the situation, because “I look bad enough as it is.”

Bennett was unanimously approved as Fayette County’s attorney Friday morning. Commission Chairman Jack Smith praised Bennett’s experience, and noted that Bennett had also worked as an attorney for DeKalb County.

“His background is in county and municipal law and he received glowing reports from his references,” Smith said.

Bennett will start Nov. 12 and his annual salary was set at $112,500.

Commissioner Peter Pfeifer opposed finding a new attorney, but believes Bennett will be a good fit for the county.

“I believe that this whole procedure was an unnecessary waste of time and has done damage to Fayette County. I believe that Mr. Bennett is the best of the candidates that were presented to me, so I will support hiring him,” he said.

Commissisoner Maxwell has been a key person in the county’s struggle with its sign ordinance. In 1998, the county adopted an ordinance that limited residents to one free-standing sign in their yards. The sign could not exceed six square feet in area.

In June 2004, Maxwell was cited for violating the ordinance because he had eight candidates’ signs in his yard. But after he was charged, then-State Court Solicitor Steve Harris said he wouldn’t prosecute the case because he believed the sign ordinance was unconstitutional.

Over the next eight months, the county’s ordinance was the subject of many court decisions.

In March 2005, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that Fayette Superior Court Judge Paschal English “applied an inappropriate standard for determining constitutionality” when he denied a request from two Fayette residents seeking a temporary injunction from the county’s sign ordinance until the lawsuit could be settled in court.

In its ruling, the court noted that the Georgia constitution provides broader protection than the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which requires a government to “draw its regulations to suppress no more speech than is necessary to achieve its goals.”

U.S. District Judge Jack Camp issued a preliminary injunction Oct. 13, 2005 in the case of Eric Maxwell vs. Fayette County. Maxwell owns 37 acres on Redwine Road and wanted to place signs on his property showing his support for various candidates in that year’s Peachtree City races.

“All I want to do is express my personal opinion,” Maxwell said.

In the case filed in U.S. District Court in Newnan, Maxwell sought temporary relief from the enforcement of the sign ordinance for the election season.

“To me, it’s a free speech issue. I’m not trying to get billboards erected throughout the county,” Maxwell said at the time.

Maxwell said he fully disclosed to all the county commissioners that Bennett had served as his attorney in the case. The county commissioner also said he had no problems with Bennett’s stance in the video camera case.

“From time to time, government attorneys have to make controversial decisions,” Maxwell said.