Court orders legal fees to be paid in Open Meetings Act case

The city of Statesboro must pay $4,250 in attorneys fees to citizens who sued the city, its mayor and council members for violating the Open Meetings Act, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The citizens filed suit after discovering the mayor and council in April 2010 had met at the Gateway Pond House, not council chambers, to discuss the budget. The state's high court rejected the city's argument that it was not liable to pay the citizens' legal bills, saying the Open Meetings Act "explicitly authorizes the assessment of attorneys' fees."