adequate public notice Archives - Page 3 of 5 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

17 Apr, 2019

Bill to punish “harassing” public records requesters delayed until first calendars in 2020

By Deborah Fisher|2019-04-17T12:48:30-05:00April 17, 2019|Categories: adequate public notice, Legislature, requests|Tags: harassment, public records request, State Rep. William Lamberth, State Sen. Ferrell Haile|1 Comment

Proposed legislation that would allow a government entity in Tennessee to get an injunction to stop public records requesters whose requests constituted "harassment" has been delayed until next year. The bills, Senate Bill 590 and House Bill 626, sought to allow government entities to stop a public records requester from making further requests if a judge found the requests to be made "in a manner that would cause a reasonable person, including a records custodian or any staff of the public entity in control of the public records, to be seriously abused, intimidated, threatened, or harassed." The bills' sponsors, Rep. William Lamberth, R-Portland, and Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin, offered different [...]

20 Nov, 2017

Would your school board vote on a capital plan without public notice?

By Deborah Fisher|2023-04-11T10:59:34-05:00November 20, 2017|Categories: adequate public notice|Tags: adequate public notice, agendas, Chattanooga, Elisha Hodge, Hamilton County Board of Education, Hamilton County superintendent Bryan Johnson, Memphis Publishing Co. v. City of Memphis, Office of Open Records Counsel, school boards, Souder v. Health Partners|0 Comments

If there’s one type of governing body that generates the most open meetings questions to my help line, it’s school boards. So let’s put ourselves in the shoes of a school board member for a moment and consider the following scenario. I hope it will provide you some ideas the next time you ask a school board candidate where he or she stands on government transparency. Instead of allowing the stock answer, “I’m pro-transparency,” how would your potential school board member react in this situation? Four months ago, the school board hires a new superintendent. He immediately faces a list of overdue capital improvement projects. Some schools need extensive repair [...]

17 Sep, 2017

Two counties fail to give adequate public notice of meetings; changes needed

By Deborah Fisher|2017-09-17T18:20:32-05:00September 17, 2017|Categories: adequate public notice|Tags: Greene County, Linda Noe, Loudon County, public notice, Richard Truitt, US Nitrogen|0 Comments

In recent weeks, governing bodies in two counties in East Tennessee failed to adequately notify the public of meetings in which they were taking up issues of high public interest. The lack of adequate public notice of meetings is a violation of the Open Meetings Act. The failure of local government entities to follow the law suggests either an irresponsible lack of understanding of the law or a willful flouting of it in an effort to exclude the public from knowing about government business. Both are egregious. The first example was in Loudon County when members of the Loudon County Board of Education were called to a special meeting on [...]

24 Feb, 2016

Bill to remove public notices in newspapers fails in committee

By Deborah Fisher|2016-02-26T09:16:40-06:00February 24, 2016|Categories: adequate public notice, Legislature|Tags: public notices, State Sen. Ken Yager, State Sen. Todd Gardenhire|1 Comment

Threatening to remove public notices of meetings and other legal notices from newspapers can be a tactic to intimidate a press that has become critical of government. But lawmakers failed to bite on a proposal in the state senate committee on Tuesday. A bill that would have allowed local and state government entities in Tennessee to stop publishing public notices of upcoming meetings and other items in local newspapers failed in committee when no lawmakers would make a motion to bring it for discussion. State Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, proposed the bill, S.B. 1909. But when State Sen. Ken Yager, R-Kingston, the chairman of the Senate State and Local Government Committee, [...]

17 Feb, 2016

Metro Nashville has no plans to shorten notice of zoning hearings

By Deborah Fisher|2016-02-17T10:24:31-06:00February 17, 2016|Categories: adequate public notice, Open Meetings|Tags: Davidson County, Metro Nashville Law Director Jon Cooper, Nashville, public hearings, public notice|0 Comments

Metro's law director Jon Cooper said this morning that Davidson County has no plans to shorten the amount of public notice it gives to citizens of public hearings on proposed zoning changes. Metro's own zoning regulations call for 21 days advance notice of zoning hearings, which Cooper says the city has been following for more than 20 years. These local regulations exceed the 15 days required by state law on all other counties in the state. This week, a House committee voted to change a statute established years ago that carved Davidson County out from all other counties, requiring it to give a 30-day notice. The rest of the 94 [...]

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