PALMDALE : Court Says City Broke Meetings Law
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A state Court of Appeal panel has ruled that Palmdale violated the state’s open meetings law by refusing to publicly disclose a city attorney’s memo to City Council members on a controversial development project.
The council had rebuffed requests to release the 1989 memo even though it had discussed the project--and the memo itself--at a public meeting.
Reversing a lower court ruling, the appellate court said Tuesday that the city could not claim the document was protected by attorney-client privilege after the council had discussed the issues in public.
Such a privilege would only apply to issues discussed in closed sessions, the court said.
The ruling is a victory for attorney Barbara Blinderman, who sued the city in June, 1989, on behalf of a Palmdale resident who opposed a land split approved by the city that year to permit an AM-PM Mini Market.
Plans for the project later lapsed and died during the lawsuit.
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