Fayette County

Solicitor Steve Harris has concluded an investigation into an open meetings

complaint that was lodged against the Peachtree City Council by a private

citizen.

And while he

has decided council didn't violate Georgia's open meetings laws in this

instance, Harris said some council members took advantage of a loophole

in the open meetings statute.

Harris's investigation

showed that several council members used one-on-one phone conversations

and e-mails to discuss council's options to investigate alleged bogus

contracts before the matter was considered and voted on during a May 16

council meeting.

These types

of "loopholes" are used routinely by other government agencies,

Harris noted.

Mayor Steve

Brown defended his decision to discuss the matter individually with other

council members, and particularly his decision to withhold that conversation

from fellow council member Annie McMenamin.

"I've

got every right to call a council member and discuss anything I want to,"

Brown said, although he admitted that keeping the matter secret from McMenamin

didn't serve a practical purpose.

"I felt

I had to be very careful and make sure I knew the facts before I brought

it up at a meeting," Brown said.

Brown has claimed

he held the one-on-one discussions with council members outside of a meeting

and didn't clue McMenamin in because her daughter works for the same law

firm that employs City Attorney Rick Lindsey.

Georgia law

requires that certain governmental meetings should be open to the public

if there is a gathering of a quorum of the body "... at which any

public matter, officials business or policy of the agency is to be discussed

or presented or at which officials action is to be taken ...".

The vote in

question at the May 16 meeting, which passed 4-0-1 with McMenamin abstaining,

authorized councilman Murray Weed to prepare a list of potential attorneys

council could hire to investigate the propriety of contracts signed by

then-mayor Bob Lenox last year after council authorized him to do so.

McMenamin said

she abstained from the vote because the meeting was the first she had

heard about the need to hire a special attorney.

The contracts

have been called into question with several council members saying the

contracts they authorized Lenox to sign last year were altered significantly

from the version they approved.

Lenox and Lindsey

have said the changes were given to all council members before council

voted to allow the mayor to sign the contracts.

Harris explained

that he consulted with the Georgia Attorney General's office before making

his final decision on the matter. Under Georgia law, the state Attorney

General is charged with prosecuting violations of Georgia's open meetings

statute through either criminal or civil proceedings if necessary.

The open meetings

law provides that any person who "knowingly and willfully" conducts

or participates in a meeting in violation of the law shall be guilty of

a misdemeanor and can face a fine of up to $500.