Visiting Ju dge

John Langford Thursday granted The Citizen Newspapers' request for a temporary

injunction halting closed meetings in connection with tax equity mediation

between Fayette County and its three largest cities.

"We got what we asked

for," said Cal Beverly, Citizen editor and publisher. "The judge

said stop the closed meetings. He said he was countermanding the part

of Judge [Stephen] Boswell's order that authorized the secret meetings.

The clear implication is that no secret meetings should have taken place

in the first place. Judge Langford, in effect, is saying that the Sunshine

Law must be followed even in these tax negotiations, and for that I'm

very gratified on behalf of the taxpayers of Fayette County."

Lawyers for the defendants

declined to comment, saying the papers' request for permanent injunction

is still pending and they don't usually comment on pending cases.

Langford's order prohibits

any further closed meetings between Fayette and the cities of Fayetteville,

Peachtree City and Tyrone concerning their tax equity dispute. Lawyers

for the governments, along with a representative from the state attorney

general's office, argued that the injunction would be moot because the

parties have already stopped meeting. The mediation sessions ended last

Friday, the court-imposed deadline for the talks.

But Langford pointed out that

no official action has been taken bringing the meetings to a close. "You

say it's ended, but how does Joe Citizen know that?" he asked.

Judge Stephen Boswell ordered

the mediation in December in response to a request from the three cities

after three years of talks among the four governments failed to resolve

the issue. The cities have contended that their citizens don't receive

enough services from Fayette County, and should have their taxes reduced

or their services enhanced. County leaders say there is no inequity, that

city residents get their fair share of services.

In ordering the mediation,

Boswell included instructions that the sessions, including an initial

meeting at which quorums of all the governments would be present, be conducted

behind closed doors.

When Boswell declined to answer

inquiries from The Citizen as to the statutory authority for the secrecy

order, the paper filed suit asking that the sessions be stopped.

"I think [the paper has]

got some legal legs to stand on," Langford said after hearing arguments

from Don Johnson, attorney for The Citizen. "I think you've got some

First Amendment ... questions."

Clay Collins, a partner of

Peachtree City Attorney Rick Lindsey, argued the case on behalf of all

three cities, and Phil Grant, a partner of Fayette County Attorney Bill

McNally, represented the county. Kathryn Allen of the state attorney general's

office represented Judge Boswell, who also was named as a defendant.

Collins and Grant argued that

privacy in mediation sessions is essential to accomplishing their purpose.

"It was an honest attempt to resolve issues," said Collins,

adding, "I don't think a city should be treated any differently than

any other citizen with respect to mediation."

"Mediation by its very

nature is confidential," argued Grant. He also cited the Georgia

Supreme Court's rules for mediation, written in 1993, which state that

mediation must be conducted in private.

He also argued that the sessions

don't constitute a meeting under state law. "These are not their

meetings this is court-ordered mediation. They've been ordered to go,"

he said.

And even if the sessions were

official government meetings, he contended, the laws requiring open meetings

state "except as otherwise provided by law." The law otherwise

provides for closed meetings to deal with matters of litigation, and the

Supreme Court's rules specifically provide for private mediation, he said.

"There's no violation

of any law here," he said.

Citizen attorney Johnson argued

that the reason for the privacy order in the mediation was to allow the

elected officials involved to avoid public scrutiny.

"This is not a mediation,"

he said. "This is a way to escape the public scrutiny of what they

were doing."

He said the officials were

empowered to act during the meetings in ways that affect the public, violating

"the public's right to review the actions of public officials."

"They should not be allowed,

said.

"I'm not making anybody

a villain," Langford said in granting the temporary injunction. He

said in considering a permanent injunction, he'll have to consider how

to resolve conflicting state laws those calling for private mediation

and those requiring public meetings.

Separation of powers issues

also are involved in the case, he said, because the city and county governments

were ordered into closed meetings by another branch of government, the

judiciary.

Citizen publisher Beverly and

attorney Johnson said they consider the judge's order a victory. "The

judge treated everyone fairly, but he granted our specific requests,"

said Johnson.

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