adequate public notice Archives - Page 3 of 5 - 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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]