Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
Funding for the Macon Fire and Police Retirement System has been a hotly debated subject in the Georgia county for many months. Pension Board members had asked the city to put in enough funds to make up for 18 months of underfunding, and successfully rejected proposals submitted by the Mayor that were considered to be inadequate.
On June 30, 2011 a series of hastily called meetings were held between the Board and the City Council, and on a 3-1 vote, the Board agreed to accept a promissory note from the city for nearly $4 million, spread over four-and-a half years. Had agreement not been reached on June 30, the city would have been in violation of a state funding requirement and lost all state aid.
Board member Danny Angelo, who is a Captain in the Macon-Bibb County Fire Department, was absent for the Board meeting. Last Friday, he filed a lawsuit seeking to declare the deal void because the Board violated the Georgia Open Meetings Act. Angelo claims that there were a series of special meetings, closed sessions, and attorney conferences just before agreement was reached, and no public notice about the meetings were sent out.
Under the open meetings law, any business transacted at an illegally called meeting is not binding.
O.C.G.A. § 50-14-1 (2007)
(b) … Any resolution, rule, regulation, ordinance, or other official action of an agency adopted, taken, or made at a meeting which is not open to the public as required by this chapter shall not be binding.
