open meetings violation Archives - Page 5 of 6 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

17 Jul, 2014

Read judge’s order in Open Meetings case against Chattanooga Industrial Development Board

By Deborah Fisher|2019-09-11T18:50:08-05:00July 17, 2014|Categories: economic development, Open Meetings, open meetings lawsuits|Tags: Chancellor Frank Brown, Chattanooga, economic development records, Helen Burns Sharp, John Konvalinka, open meetings violation|1 Comment

Helen Burns Sharp, whose career included working as a community planner for state and municipal government, spent $50,000 of her retirement savings to bring a lawsuit against the Chattanooga Industrial Development Board in 2013. She alleged that the board approved tax-increment financing for a Black Creek Mountain golf course community. In the deal, the developers got $9 million from industrial board-issued bonds to build road and sewer up a mountain to the community. And property taxes from all the expensive homes built there would be used to pay them off. She didn't think that was right -- that TIF funds are not supposed to be used for such projects -- and [...]

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 [...]

14 Jul, 2014

Newspapers delve into alleged Sunshine Law violations in zoning vote

By Deborah Fisher|2014-07-14T16:10:21-05:00July 14, 2014|Categories: Open Meetings, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: economic development records, Greene County, Herbert Moncier, Knoxville News Sentinel, litigation, open meetings violation|0 Comments

The Knoxville News Sentinel in its Sunday edition digs into a lawsuit alleging violations of the Open Meetings Act in Greene County when approval was given to rezone land for a company that planned to make components for industrial explosives. The Greeneville Sun has also covered the lawsuit involving US Nitrogen extensively as well as reported stories on the plant's construction, application for permits and environmental opposition. Its stories can be found at this link. The Knoxnews.com article is reprinted here, with permission. You can read TCOG's column about the state's open government laws regarding economic development here. By Hugh G. Willett Special to the News Sentinel GREENEVILLE — The future [...]

14 Jul, 2014

Lawsuit probes secrecy in economic development

By Deborah Fisher|2015-02-26T05:06:58-06:00July 14, 2014|Categories: economic development, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: economic development records, Greene County, Herbert Moncier, litigation, open meetings violation|0 Comments

By Deborah Fisher Executive Director of Tennessee Coalition for Open Government When government officials get into the business of economic development, they usually face the choice between transparency and secrecy. Too often, they choose secrecy. And sometimes the law allows it. At the state level, specific exemptions to the Tennessee Public Records Act give the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development broad latitude to keep confidential who they are talking with and incentives they are offering. Only after a deal is done, and the state has signed on the dotted line about how much money it has agreed to give a company in exchange for jobs, can the public [...]

3 Jun, 2014

Elizabethton Star: School system may have violated Open Meetings Act

By Deborah Fisher|2019-09-11T18:48:24-05:00June 3, 2014|Categories: adequate public notice|Tags: Carter County, Elizabethton Star, open meetings violation|0 Comments

The Elizabethton Star reported today that the Carter County Board of Education may have violated the state's Sunshine Law by not giving adequate notice of a special called meeting where it decided to sue the city of Elizabethton. The director of schools told the newspaper that it did not advertise the meeting, but posted it at its office and notified a news reporter. The reporter said she received no communication from the school district. But Rick Hollow, attorney for the Tennessee Press Association, said even if she had, the actions by the school board still would not have constituted adequate public notice.