Doss visits Board, Explains Open Records Act

“The Georgia Open Records Act applies to Georgia citizens getting information from a Georgia entity.”

County Attorney Lynn Doss explained the new Open Records Act to the Fannin County Board of Education this week at the board’s monthly workshop. The new legislation, HB 397, is a revised version of the existing law. However, Doss described the new bill as a “substantial rewrite” of the previous bill.
During the workshop, Doss highlighted some of the legislation’s finer points, explaining some its nuances.

“There were a lot of things that were good,”

she said about the bill.

Signed by Governor Nathan Deal on April on 17th, the legislation among other things defines what constitutes a meeting. Doss said that previously

“there was some ambiguity”

on this issue.

Other changes, though, are more concrete, specifically in terms of documentation.

“You need to designate for the board, for the system, one person for your open records clerk. And you will have to establish a policy that says all requests need to be in writing,”

she explained. All records requests will be processed through the open records clerk. As before, the public can request and receive records, but the district (or any other government entity) will charge for the copies. If the cost of copying materials exceeds $500, the fee must be pre-paid.

In addition, the legislation requires minutes for all executive sessions.

“The minutes from executive session,”

Doss said,

“are never turned over in an open records request.”

Like information discussed in executive sessions, the minutes are not public information, unless circumstances require the acquisition of certain pieces of information, at which point the minutes will be subject to a “camera inspection” by a court, which will isolate the necessary information from the minutes for the case or situation at hand. Also, Doss said that minutes taken in executive session should be general, not as detailed as the regular minutes, which now will include names of board members and how they vote on a particular item. The bill also requires only agenda items to be discussed in executive sessions.

Doss said the only topics discussed in executive session are real estate, personnel, contract negotiations and pending litigations, adding

“Pending litigations does not necessarily mean that a lawsuit has been filed. Sometimes you have to take action to prevent a lawsuit from being filed or sometimes you have to take action where you, as a board, may have to file some kind of litigation.”

Quoting from the bill, she emphasized the essence of the legislation.

“The Georgia Open Records Act,”

she said,

“applies to Georgia citizens getting information from a Georgia entity.”

Although Doss explained the bill as it applies to the Fannin Board of Education, the new bill will affect all state, county, and city governments, including committees created by these entities.

Since the bill is under a month old, Doss expects in time it will evolve.