MARIETTA - Three Cobb residents who live near Eastvalley Elementary School off Lower Roswell Road have filed a lawsuit in Cobb Superior Court against the Cobb school board and Superintendent Fred Sanderson, after the board approved construction of a cell tower by the school.

Ricky Welkis, Bennie Skaggs and Jonathan Young are seeking a temporary restraining order to halt construction of the T-Mobile cell tower, according to the suit, filed on Sept. 9. The lawsuit claims the board and superintendent violated the Georgia Open Meetings law by placing the matter on its agenda at the "last moment."

A court hearing to decide if the plaintiffs' motion should not be granted is scheduled for 2 p.m. Monday before senior Judge Michael Stoddard in courtroom 'O' at the Cobb courthouse.

Many residents who live in the Eastvalley school community want the board to revote on the tower, saying they weren't properly notified about the vote. Many have health concerns about living in proximity to a cell tower. Welkis, a chiropractor, said he obtained more than 250 signatures opposing the tower's construction near the school.

Isidor Kim of the Duluth law firm of Kim & Yang LLC is representing the plaintiffs.

The lawsuit cites Georgia Open Meetings law, which states, "Prior to any meeting, the agency holding such meeting shall make available an agenda of all matters expected to come before the agency at such meeting."

It states that the law requires the agenda to be made available "upon request and shall be posted at the meeting site, as far in advance of the meeting as reasonable possible, but shall not be required to be available more than two weeks prior to the meeting and shall be posted, at a minimum, at some time during the two-week period immediately prior to the meeting."

At the school board's July 23 meeting, the Rev. Dr. John Crooks, who represents the school, asked the board to approve the T-Mobile cell tower request on that same day. The board's agenda that was published earlier that week did not mention the board would vote on the tower proposal.

The suit cites a Journal article in which Crooks later admitted that if he hadn't placed the item on the agenda at the last minute, "it would have probably caused a circus."

The plaintiffs also believe that the school board violated its own policy by not giving residents proper notice about their vote to approve the tower at a July 23 meeting.

"Plaintiffs have no adequate remedy at law and will suffer irreparable harm if a restraining order is not granted to restrain defendants from proceeding with the cellular telecommunication tower construction until defendants reconsider the issue after going through the procedures," the lawsuit states.

Besides declaring that the defendants violated the Georgia Open Meetings law and that a restraining order be granted, the plaintiffs are asking that the school board and Sanderson pay their attorney fees and litigation costs.

Kim said after repeated attempts to get the defendants to reconsider the matter, his clients had no choice but to file suit, particularly since the cell tower contract has been signed.

"We have no choice because the contract has already been executed," he said.

Sanderson declined to comment because of the lawsuit and deferred questions to the school board's lawyer, Glenn Brock.

Brock also declined to comment on the matter, citing the lawsuit, and would not say whether he and the board will seek to resolve the matter outside of litigation.

"As you know, the matter was discussed at a recent school district meeting and the position of the board was to enter into the cell tower lease," Brock said. "Since this has become a matter of litigation, we are not able to make public comments about the possible outcomes or any negotiations therein."