JPs split on funding records-law ruling appeals

FAYETTEVILLE — Washington County’s justices of the peace on Thursday failed to muster enough votes to approve spending $20,000 appealing a number of lawsuits involving the county.

The Quorum Court split 8-3 in favor of the ordinance, with Justice of the Peace Beth Coger abstaining. Justices of the Peace Suki Highers, Evelyn Rios Stafford and Shawndra Washington voted against the proposal to add $20,000 to the 2023 budget of County Attorney Brian Lester. An appropriation ordinance requires 10 votes to be approved in a single reading so the proposal will be on the agenda at the October meeting of the Quorum Court.

County Judge Patrick Deakins said the adverse rulings, holding that the county had violated the open-meetings provisions of the Freedom of Information Act and failed to respond to requests for information in a timely manner, would open “a bottomless pit” of litigation in which county government “cannot function” if they are allowed to stand.

Stafford said appealing the court rulings was an example of “government waste and abuse.”

“Two different judges, not just one, came to the same conclusion that the county violated the Freedom of Information Act,” Stafford said. “What kind of message are we sending? That we’re willing to fight to keep government meetings closed?”

Lester told the Quorum Court’s Finance and Budget Committee last week the county is appealing rulings in two lawsuits filed by Coger concerning violations of the state’s Freedom of Information Act. Lester said that since he is named as a defendant on one of the lawsuits he can’t represent the county in that appeal.

Coger, who filed one of her complaints before being elected to serve as justice of the peace and one after her election, filed two separate complaints in Washington County Circuit Court over allegations the county had not followed the open-meetings provisions of the law and had not made public records available as required. Judges in both cases ruled in her favor.

Several members of the public spoke against the ordinance during the meeting, asking why the county is proposing to spend $20,000 in an effort to avoid paying about $6,500 in costs and damages awarded to Coger.