BATON ROUGE mdash; The District Attorney's Office found that BREC was in violation of the Louisiana Open Meetings Law on Friday following a back-and-forth with the Friends of City Park Baton Rouge over trademark infringement.nbsp;BREC alleged that Friends of City Park Baton Rouge, a nonprofit organ ization, infringed on BREC's name and trademark, leading the group to file a formal complaint with the District Attorney's Office and the Attorney General's Office alleging that BREC violated the open meetings law.Friends of City Park Baton Rouge is a community advocacy group that has been dedicated to preserving Historic City Park since 2003.In an email exchange beginning on June 10, BREC Commissioner Michael Polito demanded that FOCPBR Director Stan Spring provide paperwork allowing the organization to associate with City Park. On June 17, Spring responded, claiming that the organization did not require a formal agreement to voice concerns and said that the group did not claim an official operating affiliation with BREC.nbsp;In a letter written on July 28, BREC claimed that materials produced by FOCPBR, including social media posts and written publications, may confuse the public into believing that the organization has an official relationship with BREC or an official association with City Brooks Park. While the BREC Commission requested that FOCPBR refrain from using BREC's name and likeness, it was also willing to discuss the organization becoming an approved friends organization of BREC.During a public meeting on July 23, BREC called an Executive Session to discuss prospective litigation, where members voted to resolve the issue by drafting the aforementioned letter to FOCPBR; however, there was no mention of the prospective litigation against FOCPBR in the meeting agenda or recording.nbsp;On Friday, the District Attorney's Office determined that BREC violated the open meetings law following a complaint filed by FOCPBR on July 30. FOCPBR alleged that BREC improperly held an executive session on July 23 as the agenda lacked sufficient details regarding the legal matter.nbsp;According to the District Attorney's Office, while BREC's meeting agenda provides notice of an executive session being called, it violated the open meeting law by failing to include a statement identifying the court, case number and the parties relative to any pending litigation and a statement identifying the parties involved and reasonably identifying the subject matter of any prospective litigation.The District Attorney's Office claimed that BREC's meeting agenda did not identify trademark infringement, the alleged misuse of BREC's name or FOCPBR as a party to the prospective litigation, with the agenda simply saying "to discuss prospective litigation and strategy."It was not until July 28, when Polito sent a letter about what was decided at the meeting, that FOCPBR learned of what was discussed in the executive session, making the notice insufficient, causing the executive session to be in violation of the open meetings law.nbsp;The District Attorney's Office recommended that BREC take action to correct the issue within 15 days.nbsp;According to the District Attorney's Office, FOCPBR declined the invitation to become an approved friends organization as it was created to be a community advocacy organization and must remain independent from local government. The organization also disputed BREC's claims about confusing the public, citing its long history of protesting against BREC activities.nbsp;ldquo;The public has a right to understand the business BREC intends to consider, including when the law permits a portion of that discussion to occur in executive session,rdquo; BREC Superintendent Dr. Brooks Williams said in a statement released on Saturday. ldquo;In this instance, the agenda should have provided greater specificity regarding the matter being discussed. We should have gotten that right, and we apologize that we did not.rdquo;nbsp;BREC will reconsider the matter at a public meeting on Thursday, Aug. 27.Permalink| Comments ...read more read less