Press group opposes proposed change in open meetings law

By Nancy Badertscher

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Georgia Press Association is opposing legislation that would let Sandy Springs and other north Fulton cities meet behind closed doors to discuss the private companies handling most of their government functions.

The bill is being sponsored by Wendell Willard, a Republican legislator and city attorney from Sandy Springs. It would require a change to the state’s open meetings law.

David Hudson, longtime attorney for the GPA, called Willard’s bill “absolutely horrible.”

“It would be one of the worst closures of public access we’ve ever had,” Hudson said.

He said the law change would allow secret meetings to discuss a variety of services that might be provided, including consulting services for hiring, and wastewater and solid waste disposal.

The consequences for the expenditure of public tax money and the outsourcing of activities for a governmental body are almost limitless, Hudson said.

Willard said he knew the bill would be controversial but said he wanted a change in the law to be “up for discussion.”

He said city council members want to be able to discuss the private contractor, as well as the contractor’s potential future work, outside a public meeting. It would be similar to discussing a personnel matter, which can be closed under an exception to the open meetings law, Wendell said.

“How far do we go and carry on these kind of discussions at a public meeting? It’s kind of a delicate situation,” he said. “But the decisions would all have to be out in public as they should be.”