Parties agree to dismiss open records lawsuit

In a surprising-but-positive turn of events, the Bevill State Community College (BSCC)-Hamilton Campus Legislative Task Force for Education, BSCC President Dr. Kim Ennis and Alabama Community College System (ACCS) Chancellor Jimmy Baker filed a joint consent motion to dismiss the task force’s open records lawsuit in Montgomery County Circuit Court on Friday, Sept. 6.
The task force expected to appear in a follow-up hearing in Montgomery on Monday, Sept. 9, where it planned to argue that records produced by the two-year college officials were random and insufficient. However, last-minute decisions led to an agreement to dismiss the open records suit and cancel the hearing.
The lawsuit was filed by the task force in August 2018 to obtain documents that Ennis and Baker claimed were used to base their April 2018 decision to shut down and/or transfer the BSCC-Hamilton Campus workforce programs Machine Tool Technology, Drafting Design Engineering and Vehicle Technology and Auto Body Repair.