AG opinion Archives - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

5 May, 2016

AG: Search firm records are open in school director search, Open Meetings Act may apply

By Deborah Fisher|2017-01-06T15:25:27-06:00May 5, 2016|Categories: Attorney General Opinions, schools|Tags: AG opinion, Cleveland, Herbert Slatery, State Sen. Mike Bell, Tennessee School Boards Association|0 Comments

The Attorney General in a new opinion says that records in a school director search are open for public inspection, even if the records were obtained by a third party hired by a school board to conduct the search. The entity might also be subject to the Open Meetings Act, depending on factors such as the circumstances of its involvement with the government body, its authority and its structure, the AG said. State Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville State Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, said he requested the opinion because some constituents were concerned about the transparency of the search to fill the Cleveland City School's director position. The school board hired the [...]

30 Jan, 2015

Times Free Press: AG’s opinion gives Erlanger another bonus dilemma

By Deborah Fisher|2017-01-06T15:25:51-06:00January 30, 2015|Categories: Attorney General Opinions, Open Meetings|Tags: AG opinion, Chattanooga, Erlanger Health Systems, Herbert Slatery, public hospital boards, State Rep. Mike Carter, State Sen. Todd Gardenhire, Times Free Press|0 Comments

Following is a reprint of today's Chattanooga Times Free Press story about the AG's opinion on requirements for public hospital boards under the Tennessee Open Meetings Act. The Times Free Press graciously gave TCOG permission to reprint the article: http://youtu.be/3aToD-eNx1k By Kate Belz The status of $1.7 million in bonuses paid out to Erlanger Health System's management has again been called into question, as a new opinion issued by the state's attorney general has local lawmakers calling for the money to be paid back. Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III's opinion, issued Wednesday, states that Tennessee law does not permit hospitals such as Erlanger to meet in a closed session [...]

8 Jan, 2015

Chattanooga lawmakers to seek AG opinion on hospital’s possible Open Meetings law violation

By Deborah Fisher|2019-09-11T18:53:08-05:00January 8, 2015|Categories: Open Meetings|Tags: AG opinion, Chattanooga, Erlanger Health Systems, hospital board, open meetings violation, State Rep. JoAnne Favors, State Rep. Mike Carter, State Sen. Bo Watson, State Sen. Todd Gardenhire, Times Free Press|0 Comments

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported in a story that Chattanooga state lawmakers plan to seek an opinion from the Tennessee Attorney General on whether a local publicly funded hospital violated the Tennessee Open Meetings Act when it met privately and discussed bonuses for management staff. And the answer on the hospital's possible Open Meetings law violation could determine whether they file legislation to remove a special exemption for public hospital boards to meet in closed meetings in certain situations. (See bottom of blog post for an excerpt of the current law on this.) The Times Free Press story, reported by Kate Belz, is reprinted here, with permission from the [...]

4 Jun, 2014

Update: Chattanooga judges release job applications after AG’s advice

By Deborah Fisher|2017-01-06T15:26:27-06:00June 4, 2014|Categories: Attorney General Opinions, state records|Tags: AG opinion, Chancellor Frank Brown, Chancellor Jeffrey Atherton, Chattanooga, open records, Times Free Press|0 Comments

Hamilton County Chancellor Jeffery Atherton Hamilton County Chancellor Frank Brown In a story being followed by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, two judges who had denied the newspaper access to job applications for the county's Clerk and Master position reversed course and released the documents. The judges had originally told the Times Free Press that even if the applications were public records, they thought the privacy of the applicants "outweigh the public's right to know." They then sealed the records by issuing a court order in a highly unusual move considering there was no current litigation before them in which they had jurisdiction to issue an [...]

14 Apr, 2014

Does the public have a right to see police incident reports?

By Deborah Fisher|2017-01-06T15:27:02-06:00April 14, 2014|Categories: Attorney General Opinions, crime records, Office of Open Records Counsel|Tags: AG opinion, crime records, Elisha Hodge, incident reports, OORC|2 Comments

A city editor called me recently, wanting to know what records his local police department was required to make public. Seems like a simple question, but in Tennessee, it has become anything but that. The city editor’s staff was dealing with a new public information officer at the police department who was declining to turn over some incident reports because of their sensitive nature. The newspaper had a good relationship with the police chief and knew his track record was to be as transparent as possible about crime in the community. The city editor hopes the matter is now resolved, with the police chief’s guidance that incident reports should not [...]