Judge rejects jail suit

Fri, May 9, 2008

By EMILY STRANGER

The Brunswick News

A Superior Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit the citizen's group Defend Downtown Brunswick filed against Brunswick and Glynn County in an attempt to stop expansion of the county jail downtown.

Judge Ronnie Rahn III of the Atlantic Judicial Circuit released his ruling Thursday on motions filed in March and April by the county and city.

Defend Downtown Brunswick filed suit Feb. 8 in an attempt to prevent the expansion of the jail on Newcastle Street, claiming that the city had not properly abandoned I Street for the project and that the county had violated the Georgia open meetings law by holding private discussions on the expansion.

The suit named each of the seven county commissioners and five city commissioners as defendants.

Defend Downtown Brunswick had asked Rahn to grant an injunction to prevent the county from continuing efforts to expand its jail.

In his order, Rahn dismissed both of Defend Downtown Brunswick's claims. He said he could not grant the group's requests because the city has not officially abandoned I Street and the group could not pinpoint an exact date when the county commission allegedly held a private meeting that violated the open meetings law.

Jeff Kilgore, spokesperson for Defend Downtown Brunswick, voiced outrage at Rahn's decision, but said it will not deter the group from its mission.

"We have a lot of options left at this point, and we will be evaluating what our strategy will be," he said. "At a minimum, we will maintain the existence of Defend Downtown Brunswick, maintain our membership and continue to work for the full disclosure to the taxpayers of the commitments that the board of commissioners is making and the checks they are writing that commit the taxpayers to pay for both reasonable and unreasonable expenses.

"Above all, we want to ensure that the laws of this state are observed properly."

Attorney's representing the county – Aaron Mumford and Brad Watkins – filed a motion to dismiss the suit March 3. Lynn Frey and Dan Lovein, lawyers representing the city, filed a motion to dismiss the law suit one month later, on April 4.

Defend Downtown Brunswick was represented by Austin Catts and Todd Brooks, of Brunswick, and Walter Hartridge, of the Savannah firm Bouhan, Williams and Levy.

Opponents of expanding the jail into the adjacent block of Newcastle, I, Reynolds and J streets claim that it will jeopardize commercial and residential development downtown. They want the county to follow the advice of its own consultant and build a jail outside the city limits.

The county commission contends that expansion is cheaper and will allow for better security in transporting inmates to court appearances.

The lawsuit was assigned to Rahn, from outside the Brunswick Judicial Circuit, after judges from that circuit removed themselves from the case to avoid possible conflicts of interest.

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