The Law Has Spoken!

On April 8^th, the Superior Court of Camden County filed a decision against the Camden County Board of Commissioners.

Open Records Decision Page 1.pdf

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Open Records Decision Page 2.pdf

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Open Records Decision Page 3.pdf

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Open Records Decision Page 4.pdf

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Open Records Decision Page 5.pdf

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For background, Board Chairman Ben Casey  and a former Camden County Administrator had previously held individual private conversations with other Commissioners about raising our property taxes for 2026. Georgia’s Open Meetings Act requires that the Camden County Board of Commissioners MUST make a collective, public decision at a duly-noticed open meeting with a quorum present. The secret telephone meetings were illegal. County leadership violated state law because they wanted to avoid the required open public hearing before attempting to raise our property taxes. Commissioner Cody Smith and Commissioner Jim Goodman filed the lawsuit against the entire County Commission as a whole because they felt the County Commission must obey the law just as each citizen must.

Citizens have consistently complained that for many years, Camden County leadership has ignored and even fought the valuable accumulated experience and knowledge of citizenry. When they held public meetings, like a cook timing a hard-boiled egg, the County Commission Chair used a three minute redlight/green light timer to limit the time a citizen could speak before the Commission. New Commission Chair Robbie Cheek has stopped that nonsense.

The Court wrote that the Open Meetings Act protects the public from “closed door politics” and the “potential abuse of individuals and misuse of power”. Our government hasn’t welcomed citizen input and Camden County growth and our quality of life have suffered.

We have new great hope looking forward. The new interim County Administrator plans citizen Townhalls. The structure and openness of those Town Halls will tell if a new majority of the County Commission ‘has gotten the message.’

It is important to note that Camden taxpayers have borne the financial burden of the Commissions’ repeated brushes with the law. County taxpayers pay the costs of both the County Commission’s lawsuits against and the lawyers defending taxpayers. Maybe we’ve just found yet another way they can cut our taxes rather than raise them. We’ll credit taxpayers for that one.