Fulton County

senior Judge John Langford has been appointed to hear The Citizen's lawsuit

seeking to halt secret mediation meetings between representatives of Fayette

and its three largest cities.

Langford late

Tuesday set a hearing for Thursday, Feb. 21 at 9:30 a.m. The date falls

after the court-ordered deadline for mediation talks to conclude, but

Citizen attorney Don Johnson said Tuesday that a lawyer for the state

attorney general's office, who is representing Judge Stephen Boswell in

the case, can't attend any earlier.

All of Fayette's

judges disqualified themselves in The Citizen's suit citing conflict of

interest.

The Citizen

is seeking to halt mediation talks between the county and the cities of

Fayetteville, Peachtree City and Tyrone pending a hearing to determine

whether the mediation can legally be conducted in secret.

The action

came after visiting Boswell, who is overseeing the mediation, refused

to respond to The Citizen's earlier written request that he explain his

reasons for closing the talks.

Lawyers for

the newspaper also have issued requests for any and all documents produced

as a result of the mediation, citing the state open records statutes.

The governments involved have refused to give up the documents, citing

the judge's secrecy order and arguing that the documents are exempted

from open records laws because pending litigation is involved.

The court-ordered

mediation is aimed at resolving a long-standing dispute over tax equity.

City officials have maintained that their residents are taxed for more

services than they receive from the county about $2 million a year.

County leaders

say there is no tax inequity, that city residents receive more than their

fair share of services.

Boswell ordered

mediation after the cities filed a formal request that he do so. As part

of those proceedings, Boswell issued an order Dec. 14 requiring that the

mediation be conducted in private, and that the parties not talk about

the discussions. Though the order cites no statutory authority allowing

the secret meetings, it holds that the decision is "consistent with

the general guidelines for all mediations."

"In order

to provide an environment conducive to resolution, mediations are conducted

in private and information provided is confidential as between the parties

and the mediator," said Boswell in his mediation order.

Citizen Publisher

Cal Beverly said he decided to question the legal grounds for the secrecy

order because the parties involved are not private citizens, as in most

court-ordered mediations, but governing bodies, and the matters they are

discussing involve taxpayers' interests.

"We need

to remember that these are our local elected officials talking about our

tax dollars. If anything should be open and above board, it is tax talk,"

he said.