TIFTON — Newly elected mayors and city council members from across the state talked about the importance of open and transparent government with Georgia First Amendment Association Vice President Jim Zachary at the Georgia Municipal Association Newly Elected Officials Institute, March 7-8.

Zachary answered questions about the state’s Open Meetings Act and Open Records Act and provided copies of GFAF’s Red Book, Georgia’s Sunshine Laws: A Citizen’s Guide to Open Government.

More than 100 officials from more 60 cities attended the GMA event, which was held at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus Conference Center.

“Freshman city officials from all around the state — St. Marys, Walnut Grove, Columbus, Lawrenceville, Blackshear, Fitzgerald, Poulan, Lake City, Ashburn, Hoschton — and several other cities came by to talk,” Zachary said. “They are energized about entering public service and conscientious about the need to conduct the public’s business out in the open.”

GFAF board member John McCosh said the GMA event was another stop on the Georgia First Amendment Foundations’s 2019 statewide educational outreach tour announced late last year.

The foundation offers open records and meetings training to public officials around the state and encourages government agencies and individual elected officials to join the organization to access resources and support the principles of government transparency. 

Learn more at gfaf.org or by emailing info@gfaf.org.