A superior court judge has ruled that Beaufort County commissioners did not violate the Open Meetings Act in five meetings held in 2015 and 2016.

Superior Court Judge Jeffrey B. Foster released two orders in favor of the county, the result of a Nov. 26, 2018, hearing.

William Ray Leary, Donna Lay and Gerald Seighman, under the umbrella of the political watchdog group Citizens for Better Government of Beaufort County, filed the lawsuit in 2017, alleging the county board of commissioners violated the Open Meetings Act on June 1, July 7, Aug. 3, and Oct. 4, 2015 and again on Aug. 1, 2016. At the time, the Board of Commissioners consisted of Frankie Waters, Jerry Langley, Gary Brinn, Ed Booth, Hood Richardson, Ron Buzzeo and Jerry Evans, all of which remain on the board except Buzzeo.

The group filed lawsuit because they believed commissioners were making decisions that should have been made in the public meeting in closed session.

“Decisions made in backrooms out of the public’s view are bad business,” Leary, then CBG’s chairman, said at the time.

But Foster ruled that attorney-client privilege covered closed session meetings on Aug. 3 and Oct. 4 of 2015; in another meeting the board was not required to disclose information about a property for sale discussed in closed session; nor was there any wrongdoing when a recess was called “during a lengthy discussion of a motion and, upon returning from recess, the motion was restated and voted upon without much discussion,” according to court documents.

The lawsuit did not seek damages. Instead, it sought to an injunction requiring the Board of Commissioners to comply with the Open Meetings Act. According to Foster, however, the county did not shown any violation of the act then and has not since the initial complaints.

“They found in favor of the county on all counts and dismissed the case,” said county Manager Brian Alligood.