Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Free open-government seminar in Bowling Green

The Barren River Area Development District will sponsor a free open-meetings and open-records seminar Wednesday, March 30, from 1 to 3:30 p.m. CDT in the district office at 177 Graham Avenue in Bowling Green. The seminar will be conducted by Assistant Attorney General Amye Bensenhaver, who writes a majority of the attorney general's decisions on open meetings and open records. She will be joined by Jeremy Rogers of Dinsmore & Shohl, a leading media law firm.

The seminar is designed to educate public officials about the two laws but is open to anyone who notifies the area development district in advance. Contact Ashley Lawrence at 270-781-2381 (fax 842-0768) or alawrence@bradd.org.

The seminar was prompted by a series of open-government controversies involving the fiscal court of Butler County, which is part of the district. To head off further legal action against them, the judge-executive, magistrates and county attorney agreed to request training from the attorney general's office in open-government laws. Bensenhaver said the office felt that it would be useful to expand the seminar to all public officials in the district. Many local officials are newly elected and unfamiliar with the laws.

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