Kentucky's attorney general says the Eastern Kentucky Board of Regents violated the state open meetings acts when it held a closed-door session before announcing they'd deal with a $25 million budget shortfall by cutting around 120 jobs.
The Lexington Herald-Leader reported Thursday that Attorney General Andy Beshear found that the discussion of budget cuts was "only tangentially related" to the individual personnel matters that the regents cited to use open meetings law exemptions. The opinion comes after student newspaper Eastern Progress filed an appeal after the April 19 meeting that lasted more than five hours.
Board Chairman Craig Turner says the board "takes great exception with the ruling" and may appeal. Under state law, the board would have to sue the newspaper to move the matter into circuit court for an appeal.
