A judge dismissed separate lawsuits accusing the Francis City Council and South Summit Fire District of violating the state’s Open and Public Meetings Act, which requires municipalities and government agencies to conduct business in public with ample notice for residents interested in attending o r speaking on agenda items. Utah Defenders of Open Government, which describes itself online as a watchdog group dedicated to increasing government transparency, submitted two complaints to Third District Court in May. The lawsuits claimed the Francis City Council and South Summit Fire District held meetings in February and December, respectively, without giving the necessary 24-hour notice required by state law. The South Summit complaint also alleged that the agency did not upload an audio recording of the meeting within three days in accordance with state law. The watchdog organization requested Third District Judge Richard Mrazik declare the meetings in question illegal and compel the government agencies to comply with state law. However, Mrazik last month sided with the City Council and Fire District after they separately filed motions to dismiss their respective cases. The two agencies relied on similar arguments in their motions, telling the judge that Utah Defenders of Open Government failed to note how the late notices had affected the organization. “Notably absent from the complaint is any allegation that UDOG intended to attend either meeting … or was otherwise affected by the alleged notice deficiencies,” the Francis City Council’s motion said. “Nor does UDOG allege that any discussion, decision or action taken during either meeting affected UDOG in any way.” The South Summit Fire District’s motion to dismiss also remarked on 30 other lawsuits filed by Utah Defenders of Open Government since April and questioned the validity of the group’s complaints. “The Fire District believes that most, if not all, of those lawsuits are just like this one — an attempt to be paid attorneys’ fees by alleging technical defects in the public notice of meetings that UDOG never had any desire to attend and that did not result in any decisions that affected UDOG,” the court document said. The motions claimed the watchdog group lacked standing to file the complaints in Third District Court without citing specific grievances and asked Mrazik to throw out the cases. He complied and filed orders to dismiss both lawsuits last month, although he did not provide details on the reasoning behind his decisions in the court orders. The post Judge dismisses government watchdog lawsuits filed against Francis City Council, South Summit Fire District appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less