Pro transparency court decision

1/18/2011: This decision will focus some official attention on the benefits of government transparency:

Judge rules commissioners violated Oregon’s public meetings law
By Karen McCowan

The Register-Guard

Published: Tuesday, Jan 18, 2011 01:15PM

Lane County Commissioners Rob Handy and Pete Sorenson willfully violated Oregon’s public meetings law in the course of adopting a December 2009 supplemental budget that funded part-time Board of Commissioners’ constituent service aides, according to a judge’s ruling released Tuesday.

Coos County Circuit Judge Michael Gillespie also ruled that the Board of Commissioners as a whole violated the law, but dismissed then-Commissioner Bill Fleenor as an individual defendant in the case.

Gillespie’s decision came after a December trial in a lawsuit filed last February with former Lane County Commissioner Eleanor “Ellie” Dumdi and retired Eugene businessman Ed Anderson as named plaintiffs. Court proceedings and documents show that Eugene’s Seneca-Jones Timber Co. was also involved from the beginning in filing the complaint.

Gillespie heard the case because of the potential for perceived or actual bias among Lane County Circuit Court judges. His ruling made Sorenson and Handy personally liable for attorney’s fees associated with the case.

Say, does anyone know if the OUS board’s recent decision to oppose Lariviere’s restructuring plan was held during a public meeting according to the Oregon DOJ rules? No, I didn’t think so either. The Honorable Michael Gillespie’s decision is here.