Times Free Press Archives - Page 3 of 4 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

16 Dec, 2014

Chattanooga Times Free Press reports hospital board’s possible Sunshine Law violations

By Deborah Fisher|2014-12-16T12:48:37-06:00December 16, 2014|Categories: Open Meetings|Tags: Erlanger Health Systems, hospital board, open meetings violation, State Sen. Todd Gardenhire, Times Free Press|0 Comments

The Chattanooga Times Free Press has reported several stories about a local hospital board's possible Sunshine Law violations related to deliberations to award $1.7 million in executive bonuses. The hospital board's actions have drawn criticism from state Sen. Todd Gardenhire as well as some employees of the hospital whose benefits were slashed in cost-cutting moves this year. The Board of Trustees for Erlanger Health Systems says it needs to be able to meet privately or competitors could cherry-pick opportunities that the board discusses. At issue is whether Erlanger's board misused an exemption in the state law that allows hospital boards to discuss marketing or strategic plans in a private session. Under [...]

23 Sep, 2014

Times Free Press: Chattanooga to conduct open meetings training

By Deborah Fisher|2015-08-18T07:38:36-05:00September 23, 2014|Categories: Open Meetings, open meetings lawsuits|Tags: Chattanooga, open meetings violation, Times Free Press|0 Comments

The city of Chattanooga is planning ethics training that would include open meetings and open records after a Friday ruling by a judge that could cost its industrial development board potentially thousands of dollars in legal fees for violating the Sunshine Law, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported today. The Times Free Press story about a win by Helen Burns Sharp outlined a string of open meetings and public records complaints against the city of Chattanooga's various governing entities, including another lawsuit where it had to pay $71,000 in attorney's fees earlier this year. The city's attorney, Wade Hinton, told the news organization that the city is working to adhere [...]

18 Aug, 2014

Chattanooga considers new records retention policy

By Deborah Fisher|2014-08-18T06:28:02-05:00August 18, 2014|Categories: records management|Tags: Andy Berke, Chattanooga, records retention policy, Times Free Press|0 Comments

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that the city is considering a new records retention policy that could potentially destroy "decades of old documents." Some citizens are raising questions. An excerpt from the story: Berke's senior adviser, Stacy Richardson, said creating a new public records retention policy is part of being open and could save taxpayers money. She said the city will keep the public informed on what records will be kept and which ones should be put in a public server for residents to access on their own. A records policy, she said, is complicated and takes time to study. "The city is 175 years old and has been [...]

4 Aug, 2014

Open Records Counsel: Chattanooga utility EPB wrongly demanded fees to view public records

By Deborah Fisher|2015-04-28T11:34:23-05:00August 4, 2014|Categories: fees|Tags: Chattanooga, Elisha Hodge, EPB, fees for public records, Grant Konvalinka & Harrison, John Anderson, OORC, Times Free Press|0 Comments

The city-owned utility of Chattanooga charged a University of Tennessee-Chattanooga student $1,767 to view its public records on advertising spending -- an amount that the state's Open Records Counsel said is not in line with the law. Despite counsel Elisha Hodge telling Electric Power Board of Chattanooga (EPB) that it could not charge labor fees to compile records for a citizen to inspect, the utility stood by its decision in a story in the Chattanooga Times Free Press and tried to justify its action by saying the student was working with a national think tank. Ethan Greene, a student at University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Student Ethan Greene on March 24 requested [...]

17 Jul, 2014

Chattanooga judge voids $9 million deal on Open Meetings violation

By Deborah Fisher|2015-08-18T07:40:48-05:00July 17, 2014|Categories: economic development, Open Meetings, open meetings lawsuits|Tags: Chancellor Frank Brown, Chattanooga, economic development records, Helen Burns Sharp, John Konvalinka, litigation, open meetings violation, Times Free Press|0 Comments

A citizen spent $50,000 of her own money to bring a lawsuit against Chattanooga's industrial development board, and won. Hamilton County Chancellor Frank Brown says the board violated the Tennessee Open Meetings Act when it approved a $9 million deal for developers of a golf course community. The judge's ruling voids the deal. This is the second lawsuit that we've shared on TCOG's blog in recent days on citizen lawsuits involving economic development, alleging violations of the Sunshine Law and operating in secrecy. Citizens in Greene County allege Open Meetings violations in bringing to town a company that wants to make liquid ammonium nitrate used in industrial explosives. Read the Times Free [...]

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