JOHN E. SETTLE Jr.
Editor
In January 2020, Mayor Adrian Perkins and the city council approved the reappointment of Airport Authority board member Jonathon Reynolds, despite his appointment not appearing on the agenda provided to the public and not permitting public comment. His reappointment was added to the agenda during the course of the council meeting.
These actions violated the Open Meetings Law and the council’s own rules. Reynolds had been a controversial member of the SAA Board, as was made known to the mayor and the council in the days and weeks prior to the council’s vote.
The airport tenants strongly opposed Reynolds’ reappointment. Having no notice of council’s intention to take up the matter, no tenants were at the meeting,
Approximately 20 tenants filed suit against the city for a violation of the Open Meetings Law, observing that the appointment was unlawful. The suit demanded that the council properly place the matter on the council agenda and allow public comment on the appointment. Councilman John Nickelson branded the suit as “frivolous.”
What then occurred is noteworthy and disturbing. According to pleadings filed in the lawsuit, Reynolds destroyed public records pertaining to the SAA, and Mayor Perkins refused to provide records in response to a subpoena. And every city councilman refused to give testimony about the meeting, claiming “legislative privilege.”
In tactics that are now becoming common for the city, its outside attorneys began a very aggressive defense of the case in the trial court and taking issues to the Second Circuit Court of Appeal. Despite the expensive litigation strategy, the city failed in its objectives.
Finally, in August 2021, after a year and half of litigation, the council threw in the towel and gave notice of its intent to publish an agenda and ratify Reynolds’ reappointment to comply with the law.
Judge Ramon Lafitte, a former city attorney, presided over the case, and he found the tenants were a prevailing party under the Open Meetings Law and ordered the city to pay all of the tenants’ costs and attorney’s fees, amounting to over $134,000.
The city has paid outside counsel, in addition to the costs of city attorneys on the public payroll in this matter, resulting in the city spending over $200,000 in this case alone.
Judge Lafitte has ruled to award additional attorney’s fees against the city in related airport litigation, the amount of which will be decided in January 2022, again arising out of city litigation tactics.