Wednesday, March 15, 2000
Kenton to appeal decision on meetings
Opinion called impossible, silly
BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
INDEPENDENCE — Kenton Fiscal Court agreed Tuesday to appeal an attorney general's opinion that said it held a series of illegal meetings leading up to the decision to abandon Elsmere as a possible jail site.
If allowed to stand, the attorney general's decision would restrict members of Kentucky public agencies or boards from discussing any public business, no matter how trivial, except in a public forum, said Kenton County Attorney Garry Edmondson. He said he will ask the Kentucky Association of Counties and the Kentucky Municipal League to join the appeal.
“(Members of a government body) could never ride to a seminar together,” he said. “They could never go to church together.”
Not only does the attorney general's opinion violate state law and set an impossible standard, Mr. Edmondson said, “it simply is silly, and is against human nature.”
Opinions by the attorney general on open records and open meetings have the force of law, unless they're successfully appealed in the courts, Mr. Edmondson said.
According to the attorney general's opinion, Kenton Judge-executive Dick Murgatroyd met privately with individual fiscal court members in late 1999, and they apparently reached agreement on some issues related to the jail.
Mr. Edmondson said the purpose of the meetings with fiscal court members was not to seek their support, but to convey new information related to the jail site. He said Kentucky's open meetings law allows discussions between individual members of a government body when the purpose is to educate members on an issue.
Terry Whittaker, an opponent of the Elsmere jail site who sought the attorney gen eral's opinion, disagreed.
At a December press conference to announce that the fiscal court was giving up on the Elsmere jail site, Mr. Murgatroyd said that after he had met privately with each of the fiscal court members, the court had changed its mind about building a jail in Elsmere, Ms. Whittaker said.
“Each one of them had discussed this (outside a public forum), and they came in prepared to make a decision,” she said.
“Two of them did come with prepared statements, but they hadn't made any collective decision,” Mr. Edmondson said.
The attorney general also decided that:
• A Nov. 20 meeting on the jail, where there was a sign-in sheet for those attending, along with security to enforce the requirement, violated the open meetings law.
• Ms. Whittaker had the right to inspect county records without paying a copying fee.
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