DATE: Saturday, November 15, 1997           TAG: 9711150556

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   43 lines

SPSA'S RIGHT TO HOLD CLOSED MEETING UPHELD

A judge has ruled that the Southeastern Public Service Authority did nothing wrong when it closed a public meeting to discuss a sensitive government contract.

A lobbyist for private trash haulers sued SPSA, the regional waste authority, after being barred from the meeting this summer. Philip F. Abraham claimed in his lawsuit that the closure violated the Freedom of Information Act, a law intended to keep governments from making decisions in secret.

But Chesapeake Circuit Court Judge E. Preston Grissom ruled Wednesday that SPSA was within its rights to close the July 17 meeting of its Intergovernmental Coordinating Committee.

Grissom cited an exception to the open-meetings law allowing government agencies, such as SPSA, to assemble behind closed doors to discuss pending contracts with attorneys or consultants.

At the meeting in question, attorneys for SPSA were reviewing details of a contract proposal aimed at private haulers wanting to bid on trash services in South Hampton Roads.

Abraham, director of The Vectre Corp., a Richmond-based public relations firm, said Friday he may appeal the ruling.

``I don't want to say too much other than I'm disappointed,'' said Abraham, whose clients include waste conglomerate Browning-Ferris Industries.

BFI and other private haulers are trying to win a greater share of the lucrative garbage market in South Hampton Roads. SPSA has largely controlled that market for two decades, serving Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Franklin and Isle of Wight and Southampton counties.

``We're pleased with the ruling,'' said SPSA Deputy Director John Hadfield. ``I will say that while his (Abraham's) motives may have been honorable, he was dead wrong.''

SPSA also has won just over $22,000 in an out-of-court settlement from another private hauler, USA Waste Inc. of Virginia, over illegal dumping at the regional landfill in Suffolk.

SPSA sued USA Waste in September after one of the company's drivers was accused of lying about the origin of garbage to get a cheaper disposal rate.

A lawyer for USA Waste at first said the lawsuit stemmed from a misunderstanding. But the company has now settled the claim.

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