ST. MARTIN PARISH, La. (KLFY) — Attorney General Liz Murrill spoke on the lawsuit filed against the St. Martinville Fire and Police Civil Service Board. This follows a complaint filed with Murrill’s office about the board possibly violating Louisiana Open Meetings Law.

Attorney General Murrill says the reason behind filing her lawsuit against the St. Martinville Fire and Police Civil Service Board, was because there was a ratification vote the board made that she believes was ineffective in solving the problem.

A complaint was filed with Murrill’s office, resulting in her sending a letter to the service board that Open Meetings Law may have been violated. Murrill says she filed the lawsuit because her office received a violation that had not been rectified after the letter was sent.

“In this particular case, we believed that we needed to follow a lawsuit to get the proper remedy,” she said.

She says in situations like this her office tries to work with the board to make sure they know what the rules are, however, if their actions aren’t remedied a lawsuit is filed and whatever action is taken during the meeting is invalid.

“The votes that they took in violation of the law are not valid,” she said.

Murrill says although the lawsuit is filed it does not mean the board cannot go back and do it the proper way.

“The do-over for an Open Meetings Violation is to go back and follow the rules and open meetings, follow the rules for executive session if that’s what you need to do. But, you know, it doesn’t mean that they cannot take these actions,” she said. “It does mean that they have to do them in the right way for them to be valid.”

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