Court Opinion

ID: 9590666
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:57:27.038815+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:38:59.330847
License: Public Domain

Gregory, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the majority opinion and its construction of OCGA § 50-18-72 (a) (5), and write to address matters presented in the dissenting opinion of Chief Justice Marshall.
1. The dissenting opinion would have us hold that the entire search process is an evaluation or examination of the candidates. I reach a different conclusion because I read subsection (5) to distinguish “confidential evaluations” and “examinations” from other material gathered during the search process. Consider that the second part of subsection (5) deals with investigations of complaints against public officials or employees and it exempts from public disclosure all “material” obtained in an investigation. This suggests to me that a great deal of material may be collected in a search process but only “confidential evaluations” and “examinations” are exempted.
2. Another issue suggested in the dissenting opinion presents a *219closer question in my view. That is the matter of construing OCGA § 50-18-72 (a) (5) with reference to the open meetings law. OCGA § 50-14-3 (6).
OCGA § 50-14-3 (6) excludes from the open meetings requirement, “[m]eetings when discussing or deliberating upon the appointment, employment, hiring, disciplinary action or dismissal, or performance of a public officer or employee. . . .’’At first glance it might seem that a conflict exists because a meeting may be closed to discuss or deliberate upon the very material which must be disclosed as a public record. But I believe the provisions are in harmony.
What both protect from public disclosure is the give and take among decision makers so that they may make candid and difficult comparisons of the qualifications of candidates for public office and employment, and their performance once selected. That is why evaluations and examinations are exempted under the public records law and that is why discussions and deliberations about appointments and the like are exempted under the public meetings law. This does not mean however that the identity and other information about candidates, officials, and employees is exempted. Thus, both statutes protect the need for open and candid discussion about these matters but they do it in a very narrow way.