Open Meetings Archives - Page 9 of 28 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

25 Sep, 2020

Chancellor to hear arguments in open meetings case against election finance board at 10 a.m. today

By Deborah Fisher|2020-09-25T09:59:17-05:00September 25, 2020|Categories: Open Meetings, open meetings lawsuits, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle, cure meeting, email vote, Paul McAdoo, Registry of Election Finance, Tennessee Attorney General|0 Comments

Chancellor Ellen Lyle is scheduled to hear arguments today in an open meetings lawsuit filed by several news media organizations and Tennessee Coalition for Open Government against the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance. Attorney Paul McAdoo The plaintiffs argue in The Associated Press, et al., v. The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance that the election finance board violated the open meetings law when it voted on reducing $65,000 in civil penalties that it had levied against Rep. Joe Towns, D-Memphis. The penalties had accumulated over two years as Towns repeatedly failed to file campaign finance disclosures required by law. The board took the vote by email to settle the penalties [...]

4 Sep, 2020

New order requires real-time access to public meetings held electronically

By Deborah Fisher|2020-09-04T15:57:17-05:00September 4, 2020|Categories: Open Meetings|Tags: agendas, COVID-19, electronic meetings, Gov. Bill Lee, open meetings, per diem eligibility|1 Comment

Beginning on Oct. 1, all governing bodies in Tennessee must provide real-time audio or video access of their meetings held electronically. Under Gov. Bill Lee’s earlier executive order, governing bodies who met electronically instead of in-person because of COVID-19 safety concerns had to make “reasonable efforts to provide live access." But if a governing body could not provide live access after making such efforts, it could make a recording of the meeting and provide it to the public afterward. The new order, issued on Aug. 28, requires both live access and a "clear audio or video recording of the meeting." The recording must be made available to the public "as [...]

8 Jul, 2020

Joe Towns’ threat to challenge finance disclosure law influenced secret vote to reduce his fines

By Deborah Fisher|2020-09-17T18:04:49-05:00July 8, 2020|Categories: open meetings lawsuits|Tags: Bill Young, cure meeting, email vote, Registry of Election Finance, Tom Lawless|0 Comments

Longtime Memphis lawmaker Joe Towns threatened to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Tennessee's campaign finance disclosure laws if a settlement of Towns' outstanding fines was not accepted, members of the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance board said Wednesday at a public meeting. State Rep. Joe Towns, D-Memphis, threatened to challenge the constitutionality of the state's financial disclosure laws if the board did not approve a settlement to reduce fines he had accumulated for not filing reports, board members said today in a public meeting. House Democratic Chair Mike Stewart, D-Nashville, was his attorney. The new information shed more light on a secret April 1 vote in which the [...]

3 Jul, 2020

Resident files open meetings, public records lawsuit against Lebanon City Council

By Deborah Fisher|2020-07-03T10:08:53-05:00July 3, 2020|Categories: open meetings lawsuits, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: attorney-client privilege, Lebanon City Council, Lorrie Hicks, meeting minutes|0 Comments

Lebanon City Council members are facing a lawsuit over violations of the Open Meetings Act and public records law because of a meeting closed to the public, and failing to provide meeting minutes. (Photo of Lebanon City Hall, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons) The Lebanon City Council, despite undergoing training in the open meetings and public records law last year to settle a legal claim, must now face a judge over new allegations. "We had given them the opportunity before and obviously they still don't follow the law even after the training," said Lorrie Hicks, who filed a lawsuit last week alleging new violations of the open meetings and [...]

29 Jun, 2020

Gov. Lee extends order allowing remote governing body meetings through Aug. 29 — what’s a citizen to do?

By Deborah Fisher|2020-07-03T10:01:02-05:00June 29, 2020|Categories: Open Meetings|Tags: COVID-19, electronic meetings, Gov. Bill Lee|0 Comments

Gov. Bill Lee has decided to extend his order suspending parts of the Open Meetings Act to allow governing bodies to continue to meet electronically through Aug. 29. In order No. 51, Lee said extending the order is warranted because COVID-19 "remains a threat and it's imperative to ensure gatherings are conducted in a safe way ... without creating large gatherings in a confined space and endangering persons, particularly those at increased risk of suffering severe illness from COVID-19 while determinations of how best to return to safe, in-person governmental meetings remain ongoing." So what's a citizen to do? We've learned a lot over the past three months as governing [...]