Judge rules meetings of panel public

Washington County must pay costs in FOIA lawsuit

FAYETTEVILLE — A circuit judge ruled Thursday the Washington County Job Evaluation/Salary Administration Program Committee is a public body and its meetings should be public.

However, Special Judge William Randal Wright of Hope declined to sanction Washington County officials, saying there was no evidence to hold them liable for failing to respond to requests for information in a timely manner.

Wright noted the two sides had different ideas about the committee.

“The court finds there’s not a clear understanding in Washington County as to what the JESAP Committee is,” Wright said in ruling from the bench. “This group is a body of elected officials that meet and make recommendations to the Personnel Committee and to the Quorum Court. That’s the very definition of what a public body is.”

Wright said the panel provides reasoning and understanding for decisions made by the Quorum Court and its committees. If there needs to be a discussion about sensitive matters regarding an elected official or an employee, he said, the committee can retire into executive session for that discussion before returning to an open meeting to make its decision public.

Elizabeth Coger, a Washington County resident, community activist and justice of the peace-elect for District 9 on the Quorum Court, sued the county, the county judge and other county officials Nov. 10 for failure to notify the public of meetings of the committee and for not complying with records requests she made under the state Freedom of Information Act.

Wright ruled against Coger’s request to hold county officials liable and also denied her request to invalidate any action taken by the committee during the

time its meetings were not listed on the county’s monthly calendar of public meetings. He granted her request for the county to pay her costs in the lawsuit, telling her to submit a detailed list to the court.

Chief Justice Dan Kemp of the state Supreme Court appointed Wright to hear the case Dec. 7 after circuit judges in Washington County recused. Wright is a retired circuit judge.

Coger said she was pleased with the ruling the committee is a public body and its meetings should be open. The ruling should help anyone in the county seeking information from county government, she said.

“I did this not just for me, but for others in Washington County,” she said. “I’m hoping Washington County will abide by the Freedom of Information Act and treat us all with respect.”

The job committee consists of the county judge, other elected officials and one member of the Quorum Court, according to the testimony of Brian Lester, county attorney and chief of staff for County Judge Joseph Wood. As such, the group isn’t a committee of lawmakers and isn’t subject to either the public notice or open meeting provisions of state law, he said. Despite this, the committee’s meetings have been open to the public, Lester and Justice of the Peace Butch Pond testified.

The trial began Dec. 22 but was delayed when two witnesses were unable to attend because of icy road conditions. Wright set the trial to resume Thursday.

The Job Evaluation/Salary Administration Program Committee makes recommendations to the Quorum Court regarding pay for county employees, but all discussion of appropriations — including salaries — are held in public by the Quorum Court and the Personnel Committee in compliance with the Freedom of Information and other public meetings laws, Lester testified.

Lester and Jason Owens, a Conway attorney representing the county, argued the Job Committee meetings and discussions were all exempt from the state’s open meetings law because they “involved or affected” employment in general.

Arkansas Code section 1414-109, subsection 2, states “A meeting, or part of a meeting, which involves or affects the employment, appointment, promotion, demotion, disciplining, dismissal, or resignation of a county government official or employee need not be open to the public unless the local government officer or employee requests a public meeting.”

Lester argued discussion of salaries, pay grades or a performance evaluation are all covered by the exemption for “employment.” He added he wasn’t aware of any of the committee’s discussions that don’t affect employment.

Owens said after Wright’s ruling he was pleased the judge found county officials were not liable and the decisions made by the committee were upheld. He said the two sides should work together to avoid conflicts in the future, noting Washington County has been recognized for transparency in government several times by a nonprofit group affiliated with the University of Central Arkansas.

“Washington County is the most transparent county in the state,” Owens said.