LinkNKY.com reports that Campbell County Circuit Court Judge Julie Ward has ordered the Campbell County Board of Education to pay $16,456.70 in penalties, attorneys’ fees, and costs to Northern Kentucky resident Kenneth Moellman, Sr., in an open meetings case resolved in his favor earlier this year.
https://kyopengov.org/blog/campbell-county-circuit-court-finds-willful-…
On May 31, the Campbell County Circuit Court ruled in Moellman, et al. v. Campbell County Board of Education that the board violated the open meetings law by placing illegal conditions on attendance — in contravention of KRS 61.840 — at four of six challenged meetings conducted in August and September 2021.
https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=42577
The court found that plaintiff Moellman was illegally excluded from board meetings that occurred on August 9 and August 20 and again on September 9 and September 20 because he refused to wear a mask — a condition on attendance other than one necessary for the maintenance of order — and ruled in favor of his motion for summary judgment as to these meetings.
The court ruled in favor of the board as to the other challenged meetings which occurred on August 16 and August 18.
As noted by LinkNKY, the The court held that “Beshear’s executive orders mandating masks were not in effect for four out of six meetings in question.”
https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://linknky.com/news/2022…
Continuing, staff writer Robin Gee reports:
“The judge ordered the school board to pay $100 per day for the four days in damages and to pay Moellman’s legal fees once attorneys had submitted their final invoices.
“The school board did not contest the attorneys fees, which came to $15,420. However, they argued against a portion of the approximate $1,000 costs incurred by the plaintiff stating he included unnecessary parties in his original claim (these were individual school board members).
“The judge ruled Moellman’s costs were reasonable and ruled the school board pay the entire amount.”
The penalties provision of the open meetings law is found at KRS 61.848(6).
https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=23055
This, presumably, concludes the case.
