Judge voids landfill agreement due to illegal meeting

Superior Court Judge Tommy Wilson voided the agreement between the E.T. Carlyle Company and Lamar County commission last week and ruled the commission violated Georgia’s open meetings law when reaching the agreement.On Oct. 31, 2007, a quorum of commissioners attended a court hearing at the Butts County courthouse. The hearing was related to its long-standing fight against E.T. Carlyle, which wants to place a large, unlined construction and demolition landfill on its property in north Lamar County.At that hearing, commissioners reached a settlement with the company allowing the landfill.Judge Wilson found that, since a quorum of commissioners was present, their presence at the hearing constituted a meeting, “outside of the statutorily prescribed place for meeting, in secret, without notice to the public and in apparent violation of the Georgia Open Meetings Act.”