With county

attorney Mitch Powell acting as a teacher, members of the

Coweta County Commission and other committee members were

schooled in the new Open Meetings Law Tuesday morning.

The new law

takes effect July 1 and is a lot stricter than the

previous law, Powell said.

The new law

states that if a quorum of any government is present at a

location and public matters are being discussed, the

gathering constitutes a meeting.

Commission

Chairman Lawrence Nelms was succinct in his appraisal of

the new law.

"That's

almost a violation of our civil rights," he said.

Powell said

he believes the law may be challenged on the basis of

individuals exercising their right to speak out on a

subject.

Commissioner

Vernon "Mutt" Hunter offered a simple solution

to staying within the boundaries of the new law.

"We

just have to stay away from each other," he said.

Another

aspect of the law requires the chairman of the governing

body to sign an affidavit after an executive session

stating that only matters of personnel, litigation or

real estate were discussed during the session.

If the

chairman is found to be in violation of the law, he can

face up to five years in prison on a felony charge.

The law

also makes significant changes to the Open Records Law.

Previously, the county's staff had three days to respond

to a request for a record. Now, the staff will actually

have to produce the document within three days.

"It's

really going to penalize the taxpayer since we're going

to have extra staff to do this research," Nelms

said.

Hunter

agreed with Nelms and said the new law would lead to less

openness in government since many governments would try

to find a way around the law.

"Somebody's

adopting laws who hasn't plowed the mule," he said.

The county

attorney said electing officials was based on public

trust, and the effects of this law would be public

distrust.

He added

the law applied to all elected government officials and

any committees that were formed.

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