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The Decatur County Commissioners met for their final meeting of the month on Tuesday afternoon. The first item on the agenda was an executive session to discuss personnel appointments and litigation.

After returning from the executive session, the commissioners appointed Heather White to the Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Disease Regional Advisory Council. The next appointment was the reappointment of Beverly Pollock to the Decatur County Public Library Board.

Following this, the commissioners received an update from legal counsel Bruce Kirbo on the various legal cases pertaining to Safer Human Medicine. Kirbo first spoke about the recent refusal of the state Supreme Court to hear the bond challenge.

“I’ve told y’all all along that if that’s the way it came out, I didn’t think it had a whole lot of effect, one way or another, on what we call the Superior Court Open Meetings litigation,” Kirbo said.

The main litigation that pertains to the commissioners is the Open Meetings case. Kirbo recounted the previous developments in the case, with both the City of Bainbridge and Safer Human Medicine, which was allowed to intervene, requesting the dismissal of the case. The State of Georgia has also requested to intervene, seeking to enforce the project agreement, which states that compliance is dependent on compliance with the Georgia Open Meetings Act.

“The State of Georgia is stating, even more than that,” Kirbo continued, “‘The project agreement said that people had the right to withdraw from it… and the Development Authority announced publicly, and at a meeting, that they had withdrawn from it, and Court, we want you to enforce that withdrawal.’”

Kirbo also spoke about the recent statements from Safer Human Medicine, following the state’s bond decision. The statement read, in part, “With the Supreme Court’s denial of this challenge, we can begin preparing for construction on our state-of-the-art facility that will advance American medical research, provide good-paying jobs, and increase economic opportunities for Bainbridge, Georgia.”

He informed the commissioners of a recent petition for a temporary restraining order issued by the citizens in response to these statements, concerned that Safer Human Medicine will proceed with construction, “like this case doesn’t even exist.” This order was filed as part of the citizen suit against the local government bodies that approved the project.

Kirbo requested authorization from the commissioners to agree with the request for a temporary restraining order, which was approved. The county has since filed the motion for an interlocutory injunction and temporary restraining order, in which it acknowledges its prior violation of the Open Meetings Act and subsequent rescinding of the PILOT and project agreements.

Kirbo also discussed the various other cases, including the lawsuit filed by SHM against the Development Authority. This suit seeks to enforce the previously signed project agreement. According to Kirbo, there have been no major developments with this case while the bond case was ongoing. Both the citizen group and District Attorney Joseph Mulholland have filed motions to intervene, with Safer Human Medicine objecting.

Kirbo also spoke about the nuisance lawsuit that has been filed by the citizen group, with Safer Human Medicine asserting that the facility will not be a nuisance, and the Development Authority that the citizens are not entitled to any relief.

Following this legal update, the meeting was adjourned.