Britt W. Hanson, chief civil deputy at the county attorney's office, said that most cities, in his experience, put up little resistance in rectifying Open Meeting Law violations.

"This is the first time we have ever had an open meeting law enforcement issue with a city – period," Hanson said. "We've had it with other bodies but it hasn't been our experience that people are unwilling to comply. Most public bodies take it very seriously."

Tombstone officials have refused repeatedly to discuss the issue.

The complaint stems from an investigation undertaken by the county attorney's office which found that Tombstone had committed two violations of Arizona's Open Meeting Law: the city failed to put up agenda notices on its Web site; and officials ejected a citizen, Mike Carrafa, during a call to the public at a city council meeting.

Hanson said he is less concerned with the city's prior failure to maintain their agenda notices now that they have rectified that problem.

The other part of the proposed resolution, which dates back to January, included a mandatory Open Meeting Law training course that was included partially in regard to the ejection of Carrafa.

"The shutting down of Mr. Carrafa represents more of an attitude," Hanson said. "That's more troubling and it's difficult to monitor how that plays out."

Attorney Andrew Petersen, was retained to represent the city after Tombstone's attorney, Randall Bays, was one of the officials listed in the county's complaint.

Peterson, in a letter written in response to the county's complaint, maintained that the city is not forced to hold calls to the public and that if they choose to allow it, may set the rules of decorum.

Hanson acknowledges the argument, but doesn't believe that Carrafa's actions at the city council meeting warranted ejection.

"There was nothing disruptive, in my view," he said. "It seemed clear to us that, at least on its face, there was an open meeting law violation."

Hanson said city officials are making it difficult to resolve the violations with their current argument.

"Part of curing the problem is taking responsibility for the violation, and they have not taken responsibility," he said.

If Tombstone officials lose their motion to dismiss the complaint and are found to have violated the Open Meeting Law, they could either be forced into accepting Hanson's mandatory training course, or could face fines or additional penalties if a judge deems them necessary.

Hanson doesn't believe the training course is strenuous, and doesn't understand why the city would risk further penalties by taking the complaint to court.

"Typically, when it's done by the attorney general ... [Open Meeting Law training] takes about an hour or two to address the whole thing and then a question and answer thing that follows," Hanson said. "It's not typically long and involved.

"I think they should've taken the offer."

Open Meeting Law training acts as a way to educate government officials and other members of public bodies in how to conduct their business with transparency.

Hanson believes it is important to make sure cities understand and abide by the Open Meeting Law as it helps to prevent government bodies from striking deals outside the public eye.

"It's one of our values in a democratic system of government," Hanson said.

"There's an amount of transparency that allows the public to have oversight of their elected officials."