MICHIGAN
For months, tensions have mounted on the Lansing Community College Board of Trustees — tensions that may have driven the board into an illegal closed session.
The internal drama has led some trustees to publicly criticize board leadership and decision-making, even causing one trustee to resign from her position as vice chairwoman.
And on Tuesday, a former trustee filed a lawsuit against the board for allegedly violating the state's Open Meetings Act, which requires all publicly elected bodies to conduct meetings open to the public.
"It's a great concern to me when the public's business is not conducted in public, and it should be a concern to every taxpayer," said Todd Heywood, who served on the LCC board from 2001-03.
Heywood charges in court documents that the board held a meeting in September at which a majority of members were present without adequate public notice.
He also alleges that board Chairman Chris Laverty illegally moved the board into closed sessions.
The State News was unable to reach Laverty for comment.
If found in violation of the act, the board could be fined and ordered not to violate the act again with an injunction, said Herschel Fink, a First Amendment and media lawyer.
An injunction would take another legal step in preventing the government body from meeting in secret by formally ordering it not to violate the act again or risk additional penalties such as jail time.
"If the government is able to act behind closed doors, there are no checks and balances," Fink said.
