ATLANTA - College Park Mayor Jack Longino's supporters figured they spotted a clear violation of Georgia's open meetings laws.

Three of the five city council members had met to pen a letter condemning the mayor's annual charity ball without first notifying the public or Mr. Longino, who has been the south Atlanta suburb's mayor for 12 years.

So they filed a complaint with the Georgia Attorney General's office, arguing that the council members willfully violated state law.

The state's attorneys soon recommended that the mayor seek mediation or other legal options but refused to pursue the case in court.

The response seems to be the norm. The office has not criminally prosecuted any open records or open meetings complaints since it began to mediate the cases in 1998, according to Attorney General's office records obtained by The Associated Press.

Some 142 open records complaints filed between 2005 and February 2007 were listed as resolved in some way or another, according to a log maintained by the state's attorneys.

Of those complaints, more than 100 cases were resolved when attorneys explained the scope of the law to the complainant or the agency being asked to provide records.

In many cases, the agency handed over the records after state attorneys got involved.

But others were more complicated.

An August 2006 case alleged that two cell phone towers were built in Forsyth County without being considered first by the local planning commission. The case was resolved when the state attorney encouraged the complainant "to get private counsel to enforce her rights," according to the log.

In a June 2004 case involving a complaint that the Talbot County Planning Commission failed to quickly respond to a request, the log noted that the complainant was told the state's "limited resources are not appropriately spent seeking attorney fees or criminal sanctions for an untimely response."

State attorneys contend the law's standards make it difficult to pursue criminal charges.

The maximum fine for violating open meetings laws is $500, and the top fine for records violators is $100. Prosecutors must also prove the government agency was willingly flouting the law.

"It makes criminal prosecution virtually impossible because of both the standard the Legislature has set and the penalties they've allowed prosecutors to seek," said Russ Willard, a spokesman for the Attorney General's office.

He said most of the arguments arise when local governments misunderstand the sunshine laws and that once the state gets involved, disputes are often settled.

"It's not a wise use of our resources when the governing authority has already complied with our advice to turn around and seek to punish them," Mr. Willard said.

Open government advocates say they are encouraged that the Attorney General's office is mediating open records disputes, rather than leaving it up to local prosecutors. But they suggest that lawmakers begin studying different ways to bolster the arsenal of tools available to enforce the laws.

One such method is to require that victors in civil lawsuits be compensated for attorney fees, said Hollie Manheimer of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation.

Another is to allow a standalone apolitical body that handles complaints from government agencies and private citizens.

Sometimes, though, the public perception that officials have something to hide is more damaging than any legal action.

In Mr. Longino's case, he wasn't too concerned that the state didn't pursue the complaint. He said his charity ball raised $10,000 and that the council members who protested it ended up looking foolish.

"I don't feel that stirring things up solves the problem," he said. "I feel everything we do should be transparent. What do we have to hide from the people?"