MA Attorney General Clarifies State’s Open Meeting Boundaries

In a ruling with implications for public bodies across the state, the beleaguered Board of Selectmen in Foxboro, MA – long-time home of the New England Patriots and current battleground over a proposed Bob Kraft/Steve Wynn gambling casino – got some good news when the Attorney General’s Office ruled in its favor regarding alleged violations of the state’s Open Meeting Law (AG Denies Open Meeting Complaint).

The AG’s Ruling

In response to complaints against the meeting procedures employed by the Selectmen, the Attorney General’s Office found that:

• Public boards or committees control their own agendas and have no particular responsibility to address specific matters or issues raised by meeting attendees;
• Public boards and committees also have sole control over who from the public – if anyone – is permitted to speak at their meetings.

Like other municipalities across the state – and, for that matter, across the country – Foxboro has struggled to fulfill Open Meeting requirements and, in fact, last year the same AG’s Office found the town’s School Committee to be in violation of the statute’s procedural requirements (Foxboro Violated Open Meeting Law).

But this time Foxboro won, and the Open Meeting procedural  boundaries laid down by the AG’s Office have statewide implications for all public bodies.

About the Author:  Elizabeth Tice heads up Office Solutions Plus LLC, where we provide documents of record for all venues, including Open Meetings, court reporting, depositions, and transcription.  We understand the importance and value of accurate records.  617-471-3510. Try us out!

Open Meeting “Sunshine” Blinds Politicos Far & Wide

Old Habits, Ignorance, & Arrogance Proving Hard to Shed

The Judicial Branch really gets the concept of transparency.  Although there are occasional missteps, overwhelmingly the Courts understand how all this Open Meeting & Sunshine stuff really needs to work.  For example, when the Supreme Court has a closed-door, Justices-only conferenceto discuss the future of healthcare, the secrecy of those discussions is universally viewed as appropriate because the Court’s job at that point is, well, to do their job & make a decision.  

Leading up to that closed meeting, however, everything the Justices see & hear regarding the case is publically open and recorded.  Did Ginsburg and Scalia chat about the case at the Christmas party?  Did Sotomayor have lunch with a healthcare CEO?  Did Roberts and Kennedy argue about the healthcare mandate during a round of golf?  Of course not…because the Judicial Branch understands transparency.  Evidence & third party input need to occur in the open and be recorded and reviewable.

So why is implementing the Open Meeting concept such a challenge everywhere else in government?  This is probably a more complicated question than I’m making it out to be, but results from a little research on the topic reveal some interesting patterns.

To begin, this isn’t an isolated problem.   Violations of Open Meeting laws appear to be occurring pretty much everywhere such laws exist and at essentially every level of government covered by the laws.  In just two Google Alerts days, stories about Schools Boards, Planning Boards, Public Safety Committees, Boards of Education, City Councils, City Managers, and State Governors popped up in locations as diverse as Kansas, Illinois,  Massachusetts, South Dakota, and Michigan.

It also needs to be noted that the thirst for transparency in government isn’t going away any time soon.  For opponents of Sunshine Laws all I can say is “Good Luck” if you try to erode the scope of these statutes.  While it’s fair to say that these laws add a new burden onto government operations, it’s also pretty clear that the Public’s right to know, participation by the Electorate, and honesty in government are issues that will trump operating efficiency every time.

So if these laws are increasingly applied to all levels of government, and are here to stay, what’s the deal with all the violations?  Three factors seem to at work. 

• First, there are entrenched habits and “we’ve always done it that way” attitudes.  In other words, it’s human nature to resist change. 
• Second, there is simple ignorance about what some of the Open Meeting laws require in terms of transparency. 
• And finally, of course, there is arrogance in the form of “I don’t want to do this so I’m not going to”.

A good example of how a mixture of old habits, ignorance, and arrogance can lead to violations of an Open Meeting statute recently surfaced in Kansas.  The Governor, Sam Brownback, hosted a series of dinners with state legislators to discuss future legislation.  At the time such get-togethers were viewed as standard operation procedure (Old Habits) and nobody gave the Open Meeting law a second thought (Ignorance).  When questions started to arise, the initial response was that the dinners weren’t covered by the law (Arrogance) which was eventually followed by an admission that it was all just a mistake.

When the Miranda Rule against self-incrimination was first introduced in 1966, many problems now facing  Open Meeting laws arose.  Law Enforcement viewed Miranda as a burden and technicality, and implementation ran into Old Habits, Ignorance, and Arrogance.  After more than forty years, however, Miranda remains in place and is generally viewed as an important pillar in our justice system. 

Similarly, despite the current “start-up” problems it’s reasonable to foresee Open Meeting laws gaining the grudging acceptance of government officials and eventually becoming an important element in how we govern ourselves. 

About the Author:  Elizabeth Tice heads up Office Solutions Plus LLC,  where we understand how to record and transcribe meeting minutes according to the Open Meeting Laws.  While we cannot control implementation of the rules in cities and towns, we can control quality output in the form of accurately summarized meeting minutes and all documentation attached to the agenda as part of our Open Meeting Law offering.  617-471-3510.  Try us out!

 

New Resolution to Open Meeting Law Faces Opposition

In Tennessee, a resolution to the open meeting law is having some opposition.  This resistance was started by a member of the Tennessee County Commissioners Association.  This new resolution to the open meeting law will make it impossible for both the general public and the media to attend certain meetings of the local government.

The man in charge of this move is Bob Barnwell, Williamson county commissioner.  At first, there was unanimous agreement favoring the law’s resolution, as all twenty-two Williamson county commissioners supported the bill this past October.  Now there is conflict regarding this bill as two counties have overthrown the resolution.

The Tennessee Municipal League is not currently involved in this dispute over the open meeting law.  The bill allows for members of the local governments to discuss information in private if a quorum is absent.  This law will allow any number of elected officials (as low as 2!) to meet together and make decisions that affect the general public without calling a real meeting.  The citizens of these counties would not be given the appropriate notice when town affairs are being decided.  This issue has not yet been brought to the attention of the White County Board of Commissioners.

OS+ LLC takes care of meeting minutes according to the Open Meeting Law requirements.  Office Solutions Plus LLC works with government agencies, cities and towns to help with office projects.  Public meetings often have plenty of meeting minutes that need to be either summarized or transcribed word-for-word.  OS Plus LLC handles such meeting minute projects.  If you need anyone to work on projects relating to meeting minutes, transcription, or depositions, please e-mail LizTice@OfficeSolutionsPlusLLC.com.

Reference

Wood, Kim Swindell. “Archives News ‘Open Meetings’ Law Could Face Challenges.” The Expositor -SpartaTennessee. 1 Dec. 2011. Web. 16 Dec. 2011. <http://spartaexpositor.com/articles/2011/12/01/news/doc4ed78f059f2d1437121815.txt&gt;.

Massachusetts Open Meeting Law

Not long ago, a new section to the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law was added.  Beforehand, a lot of town business was taken care of without as much input from the citizens of the town.  There wasn’t much announcement on the specifics of each town meeting and citizens did not know what would be discussed at each meeting.  Attorney General Martha Coakley changed this.

Coakley enforced a new provision throughout the state.  All public business must now be communicated through specific channels to the general public.  However, some information such as distribution of reports or documents will not be provided.  The way these announcements are made is either posted through hard copy or through electronic format. 

Democracy depends on the open communication between the government and the people.  Citizens have the right to knowledge of specific governmental actions.  This law focuses on having most government meetings open to the general public.  There are some exceptions to keep government workers from having every single discussion open to comments from the public.  Any document handled at each meeting has to be filed with a folder of information on that meeting.  Any letters, requests, proposals, or files must be available for the public to see.  Overall, this law has provided a great channel of communication between citizens and the government.

Office Solutions Plus LLC takes part in helping government agencies, towns, and cities with such public meetings.  OS+ handles meeting minutes within the government sector.  We also take part in summarizing what has happened during a meeting.  These summaries are put up in town for every citizen to see what has happened at the last meeting.  In this way, OS+ takes part in facilitating communications between the government and the people. 

OS+ satisfy all of the Open Meeting Law requirements and handle meeting recording and transcribing.  OS+ handles meeting minutes for cities, towns, committees, and even corporate meetings.  As mentioned, OS+ handles either verbatim or summarized transcription.  So Office Solutions Plus does handle word-for-word transcripts!  OS+ also scans meeting documents electronically for your record and can create an electronic copy of your meeting.  To find out more, please email LizTice@OfficeSolutionsPlusLLC.com or leave a comment!

To learn more about the Open Meeting Law, take a look at this video: