Deborah Fisher, Author at Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

9 Jul, 2019

Chancellor puts Ridgetop BOMA under permanent court order to not violate open meetings act again

By Deborah Fisher|2019-07-09T12:33:09-05:00July 9, 2019|Categories: adequate public notice, open meetings lawsuits|Tags: adequate notice, Chancellor Lauren McMillan Jr., open meetings act enforcement, Ridgetop|0 Comments

Chancellor Laurence McMillan Jr. has permanently enjoined the Ridgetop's Board of Mayor and Aldermen from violating the Tennessee Open Meetings Act again in an action that should help ensure that the board's future decision-making is done in public. Robertson County Chancellor Laurence M. McMillan Jr. signed an injunction voiding a June 10 decision to eliminate the Ridgetop Police Department, and placed the town's Board of Mayor and Aldermen under permanent court order to not violate the Open Meetings Act again. The order states that the BOMA violated the Open Meetings Act by not providing adequate notice of the June 10 meeting as required by law. Ridgetop's BOMA dissolved the five-officer [...]

27 Jun, 2019

Resident says Lebanon City councilwoman created Open Meetings Act violation through emails

By Deborah Fisher|2019-06-27T13:49:04-05:00June 27, 2019|Categories: Open Meetings|Tags: emails, Lebanon City Council, Lorrie Hicks, Open Meetings Act, open meetings violation|2 Comments

A Lebanon resident, who was barred from entering a city council meeting, is claiming the Lebanon City Council has violated the Tennessee Open Meetings Act multiple times in recent months and is requesting the city get training on the law and reconsider its actions on a recent rezoning decision. Lorrie Hicks, through her attorney Paul McAdoo, has sent a letter to the Mayor Bernie Ash of the Lebanon City Council, explaining the alleged violations. She told TCOG she has not yet heard back from the city, although the mayor was quoted in the local newspaper as saying he had turned over her letter to the city attorney. “I don’t know [...]

27 Jun, 2019

Chancellor refuses to find Nashville school board’s closed-door meeting with attorney allowed under law

By Deborah Fisher|2019-06-27T13:19:30-05:00June 27, 2019|Categories: Open Meetings, open meetings lawsuits, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: Anne Martin, Knowledge Academies, Metro Nashville school board, open meetings violation|0 Comments

Davidson County Chancellor Anne Martin on Wednesday allowed a claim of an Open Meetings violation against the Metro Nashville School Board to go forward, including depositions of school board members and other attendees of the closed meeting. Davidson County Chancellor Anne Martin: "... the public interest is best served by enforcing the Open Meetings Act, the purpose of which is to ensure that the public’s business is conducted in the public. " Martin, in her order in Knowledge Academies v. Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools and the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools Board of Education, granted a temporary injunction to the charter school operator who claimed that the school board's closed-door meeting [...]

24 Jun, 2019

Can a county commission require people recording meetings to stay in the back of the room?

By Deborah Fisher|2019-06-25T08:57:57-05:00June 24, 2019|Categories: Open Meetings|Tags: cameras, Hamblen County, Linda Noe, Tennessee Open Meetings Act|0 Comments

A recent policy adopted by the Hamblen County Commission stretches and may exceed the boundaries of a governing body’s authority in Tennessee to limit the ability of citizens to make video recordings of their meetings. In May, the Hamblen County Commission voted to adopt a policy requiring that anyone using “cameras, video equipment, and other recording devices” be restricted to the rear of the meeting room. “This will ensure that any recording devices and their operators will not interfere with the conduct of the meeting or hamper the ability of the audience to observe and participate in the meeting,” the change read. The policy was aimed at Linda Noe, a [...]

13 Jun, 2019

Is it adequate notice if key details are omitted – like a vote on eliminating the police department?

By Deborah Fisher|2019-06-14T16:51:06-05:00June 13, 2019|Categories: adequate public notice|Tags: adequate notice, Ridgetop|1 Comment

More than 22 year ago, a group of citizens in Englewood filed a lawsuit against their city, alleging that their Board of Commissioners did not provide adequate notice of a meeting in which it selected a route for a highway expansion project. The case reached the Court of Appeals, which established a three-pronged test still relied upon today when considering if a public notice of a special-called meeting is adequate under the requirements of the Tennessee Open Meetings Act. It’s a test that came to mind recently when some citizens in Ridgetop in Robertson County complained that their board of mayor and aldermen did not give adequate notice of a [...]

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