Marietta's elected leaders say they keep the city's land purchases secret until after money changes hands so they can keep prices low and save taxpayer money. The details ultimately become public, they say, after the deals are done.

But city officials say they can't find key documents — including independent appraisals and signed sales contracts — for several properties they have purchased in recent years, including two that cost taxpayers more than $1 million each.

For example, in July of 2004 the city joined Cobb Housing Inc. in purchasing an office building on 1.1 acres at 268 Lawrence St. near City Hall for $1.25 million. The office became the new home for local housing assistance programs.

City officials could not locate an appraisal for the office building or a sales contract, though they were able to find a settlement statement and an appraisal for a fraction of the property that set its value at $49,000.

The year before the city bought the office building, the Cobb County Board of Tax Assessors appraised the property's value at about $1.06 million. The tax assessment remains at about that amount today.

Marietta bought the office building from The Graham Family LP. Glenn Graham, the partnership's registered agent and sole member, declined to comment for this article. Marietta split the cost with Cobb Housing Inc., using federal Community Development Block Grant money, Mayor Bill Dunaway said.

City officials also could not find an appraisal or sales contract for a gas station-convenience store it bought at 326 Roswell St. for $1.5 million from Kap Ro Yun in May of 2005. County tax officials appraised the property at $399,910 that year. Yun could not be reached for comment.

Marietta originally wanted a piece of the land for a turn lane and got an outside appraisal valuing that portion at $540,700. But the amount of land required for the road project would not have left enough room for the gas station, Dunaway said, so the city wound up buying the entire parcel and the gas station was torn down.

The city resold a portion of the land to Marietta builder Roger DeBoy for $550,000. DeBoy broke ground there last year for a $20 million condominium and office development.

Marietta does not have a written policy that requires independent appraisals for all real estate purchases, city officials said. But Marietta does have a records-retention policy that requires the city to keep copies of contracts for at least 20 years.

"I am disturbed we don't have better record-keeping," Dunaway said. "There is nothing illegal, immoral or fattening about any of those purchases and certainly no intent."

Dunaway dismissed the idea of having an independent appraiser set values for the properties before the city bought them, saying: "It wouldn't have made any difference... because the seller wasn't going to agree to whatever the appraisals said. Those are negotiated prices."

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution asked for records of the city's land purchases more than three weeks ago. Dunaway said city officials were still searching for documents related to some of those purchases as of Monday afternoon.

In contrast to Marietta, Cobb County publishes the details of its real estate transactions on meeting agendas days before county commissioners vote on them in public.

In Marietta, anyone interested in the city's land purchases could get the details from the deeds down at the county courthouse — after the deals are done, City Attorney Doug Haynie said. Haynie said the city's secrecy complies with state law.

He points to a part of the Georgia Open Meetings Act that allows closed-door discussions about real-estate transactions. That exemption says "the disclosure of such portions of the minutes as would identify real estate to be acquired may be delayed until such time as the acquisition of the real estate has been completed."

Meanwhile, Marietta's secrecy has caught the attention of government watchdog groups, including Common Cause of Georgia and the Georgia First Amendment Foundation.

"If a public agency does withhold information... the lack of disclosure should be as narrow, limited and circumscribed a possible," said Hollie Manheimer, executive director of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation. "The point of the Open Meetings and Records Acts is to enable the public to review the maximum amount of information, not the minimum."

Last month, Marietta's City Council members discussed letting more sunshine into their land-buying process but ultimately voted to make no changes. The issue is expected to come back up for a vote at the council meeting on Oct. 10. Councilman Griffin L. Chalfant Jr. is proposing the council disclose key details of its purchases when it votes on them.

"I just felt it is in the public's interest to keep them informed as quickly... as possible throughout the whole process," Chalfant said.

Critics of Chalfant's idea say the city's secrecy helps protect against speculative land buyers snapping up neighboring parcels and jacking up prices.

"It sounds all well and good," Councilman Philip Goldstein said, "but the problem is it doesn't protect against price spikes."

Reprinted with permission from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 10/01/07.