A Park Hills resident’s challenge over a city council walkout won’t get an answer from the Kentucky Attorney General.
The complaint was from Park Hills resident, Gretchen Stephenson, who sought an opinion from the office after City Council Member Sarah Froelich walked out of a meeting in protest at the end of September, seemingly to deny the body the number of legislators necessary to cast votes.
The Attorney General’s office argued that it “lacks jurisdiction to determine whether the Council complied with provisions of law other than [the Kentucky Open Meetings Act], such as a statute requiring the presence of a quorum to take action.”
Stephenson argues in her complaint that Froelich’s walk out denied the council the necessary number of people to conduct business, which is referred to in legal jargon as a quorum.
Stephenson pointed to two different laws in her complaint: One was a portion of the commonwealth’s open meetings law, and the other was the statute laying out what counts as a quorum. She argued the vote that followed the walk out violated the state’s Open Meetings Act as well as the law dictating what’s necessary for a quorum. The city later responded, denying it had violated the Open Meetings Act.
The Attorney General’s response argues that it could only issue opinions about violations of open meetings laws themselves, and the law establishing a quorum did not fall under that umbrella. As a result, “issues not arising under the [Open Meetings Act] cannot be addressed in an opening meetings appeal.”
The office states that Stephenson can escalate the case to the county circuit court. Stephenson confirmed with LINK nky she plans to do so.
You can read the full response from the AG’s office, as well as LINK nky’s coverage of the quorum dispute below.
