Attorney General Investigating Tattnall Commissioners for Open Meetings Complaint

The Georgia Attorney General’s Office is investigating the Tattnall County Board of Commissioners after a complaint was filed alleging a violation of the Georgia Open Meetings Act.

A letter was sent to county attorney Joe McGovern on Thursday and requests that the county provide their side of the meeting actions within 10 business days.

The complaint was filed by AllOnGeorgia after the February meeting when Commissioners chose to discuss bids and recommendations from a project manager for a construction project in executive session.

The decision to go into executive session was made in the presence of County Attorney Joe McGovern on the matter stemmed from an agenda item that dealt with bids requested for the construction contract for an EMS building in Glennville, a reason not permitted under Georgia law.

County Manager Frank Murphy suggested that commissioners “come back to this after we’ve had a chance to go in executive session and discuss it with Mr. Joe (McGovern).” Chairman Trim replied with, “that’d be fine.” The item was not addressed again in open meeting and McGovern was asked if they needed to go into executive session for any reason. McGovern stated for “real estate” and “legal.” The bid discussion does not meet the threshold for those reasons.

The state’s constitutional office has the ability to issue a reprimand, impose fines, and require sunshine law training for elected officials. Anyone present in the meeting, including the county attorney, would be included. The county clerk was not present at the February meeting as she was at training.

The letter sent Thursday is below.

Background on the meeting:

Tattnall Commissioners Violate Open Meetings Act