A citizen who successfully sued the city of Chattanooga and Hamilton County could see the return of more than $75,000 in attorneys’ fees after proving to Chancellor Frank Brown that a Chattanooga board secretly approved $9 million in taxpayer support for a residential-golf course development.
Attorneys argued on Wednesday before Chancellor Pam Fleenor, who replaced the recently retired Brown, whether the city should have known that its actions were in clear violation of the law, or whether Brown’s ruling represented a novel new approach to the Open Meetings Act.
John Konvalinka, an attorney representing retired city planner Helen Burns Sharp, said Sharp should be reimbursed for expenses she incurred in challenging what Brown ruled was an improper action by the city Industrial Development Board.
“We submit that this taxpayer (Sharp), who has undertaken to do this on behalf of the taxpayers of Hamilton County, should be reimbursed at a minimum her discretionary costs,” he said.
Konvalinka was sharply critical of the actions of former city attorney Mike McMahan, who has acted as both a witness and as an advocate for the city, and who also has been fingered as the one who approved the $9 million in taxpayer financing for Black Creek Mountain developers without a public meeting of the Industrial Development Board, as required by law.