THE DAILY NEWS

FRANKLINTON n The 22nd Judicial District Court this week dismissed a suit alleging the Washington Parish Reservoir District Commission violated the Open Meeting Law with regard to a meeting on Jan. 5.

Two parish residents alleged that the commission had not given proper notice of the meeting, that it had not posted a copy of the Open Meetings Law and that public comment had not been allowed during the meeting.

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The court reportedly found that, although an agenda had not been included in the meeting notice, the notice did say that the commission was meeting to receive and act upon an engineer's recommendation of a reservoir site. Since that would have been the only item on an agenda, it was ruled that proper notice had been given.

The commission meets in the Washington Parish Complex in Franklinton where a copy of the Open Meeting Law is posted on a bulletin board in the lobby. The court ruled that the posting of an additional copy was not required.

The third complaint alleged that Chairman Huey Pierce had not allowed public comment during the meeting. Pierce reportedly said that there would be no public comment about matters pertaining to permitting because the Corps of Engineers would hold a public hearing on that issue. But after the engineer gave his recommendation on site selection,Pierce asked the commission and then the public if there were any questions.

The court found that, since the site selection was the only business of the meeting, Pierce's call for questions constituted sufficient compliance.