'No Buses' Group Accuses County Of Violating Open Meetings Act

DOUGLAS COUNTY, GA — A letter sent to Douglas County's attorney, Ken Bernard, by an attorney for the Douglas County Peoples’ Action Committee, says the County may have violated the Georgia Open Meetings Act.

"In particular, my client has asked me to review the process undertaken by Douglas County with respect to the Bus System Start-up Operations Funding application that was submitted to the Atlanta Regional Commission," reads the letter sent from Theodore P. Meeker, III, the group's attorney. "Through a series of requests under the Georgia Open Records Act and the responses given to date to those requests, it appears that the actions taken by the Douglas County Board of Commissioners and Transportation Committee of the Douglas Count Board of Commissioners may have violated the Georgia Open Meetings Act."

The letter, dated July 9, goes on to describe how the funding for the bus route system was wrongly approved, according to the group's lawyer. A copy of the complete letter is attached to this article.

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"The Transportation Committee of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners conducted a meeting on October 10, 2017. At that meeting, a vote occurred to amend the application to ARC. The amended application was mentioned at the meeting of the Board of Commissioners on October 16, 2017, but no vote occurred at that meeting. The amended application was submitted to ARC. The confusion over what was submitted to ARC, and what was actually approved by the Board of Commissioners, was noted by one of the commissioners at the meeting on March 6, 2018.

"We requested documents evidencing agendas of the Transportation Committee. This was done as my client’s members attended such committee meetings and do not recall seeing agendas being available or being published. The response from the County to an open records request for such agendas shows that no such agenda existed prior to October, 2017."

The letter concludes stating that violations of the Open Meetings Act are criminal offenses and any necessary legal action "will include claims for all relief allowable under the Georgia Open Meetings Act and all legal fees incurred in the enforcement of such rights."

Douglas County has not yet responded to Patch's request for comment.

The DCPAC is urging residents to come out July 23 and 24 to oppose the Board of Commissioners' vote on the new four-bus system.

"DCPAC has requested that citizens who are concerned about the proposed bus system of Douglas County attend the next couple of BOC meetings to address their concerns to the commissioners," said Heather Denis, DCPAC, chairperson. "On July 23 at 10 a.m., there is a work session for the BOC where public comment is available at the start of the meeting. On July 24, at 6 p.m., the BOC will hold their meeting where they will vote to accept the grant from Atlanta Regional Commission."

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Photo by Patch Editor John Barker