17th Annual Re ort of the 0

SEVENtEENTH ANNUAL REPORT

OFTHE
OPEN MEETINGS COMPLIANCE BOARD
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Pursuant to 10-S02.4(e) of the State Governme t Article, t h ~ Open
Meetings Compliance Board submits this annual report, cov ring the perird July
1, 2008, through June 30, 2009.
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Activities of the Board
A. Financial and Support Activities
B.
From July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009, the Compli nce Board received
23 complaints alleging violations of the Open Meetings Act. Many iof the
complaints alleged more than one violation. Nine complai ts were pending on
June 30, 2009; the opinions in response were issued later. Four opinions were
issued this fiscal year about complaints received prior to J Iy 1, 200ft I
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17th Annual Report of the Open Meetings Compliance Boc rd 2
Table 1 below indicates the categories of complainar ts.
TYPE OF COMPLAINANTS
Type Number
Citizens 18
Government Officials 1
News Media 4
Table 1 I
As Table 2 indicates, entities at every level of government were involvE1d with
complaints. .. I
COMPLAINTS BY TYPE OF ENTITY
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lurisdiction Number
State 5
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County
Local School Board
. MunicioaJitv 10
2
6
Table 2
During the reporting period, the Board issued 20 (pinions. In flO of
these, the Board found a violation of the Act. Violations tended to concern the
Act's procedural reqUirements such procedures for closin a meeting and its
requirements for preparing minutes. There are occasions where the
does not allows us to reach a definitive conclusion. All of tt e Board's opinions
are available at this Internet location: htto://wwv.oaJl.state.rrbd.us/
Opengov/Openmeetings/ board.htm.l I
As we have previously observed, although it is impossible to the
incidence of unreported violations, the Compliance Board bE lieves that tne low
number of known violations reflects overall compliance wit the law by public
bodies at all levels of government. This conclusion is further supported the
fact that only a handful of Open Meetings Act issues hav, been broutht to
1 We thank the Attorney General's Office for its maintenance of the Boardls web
page, which is an important source of information about the Open Meetings Act
generally and about the Compliance Board's procedures. '
17th Annual Re ort of 0 liance 80 rd I 3
court. Overall compliance is undoubtedly furthered by the ngoing eduJational
efforts of the Academy for Excellence in Local Govern nce, the Maryland
Association of Counties, the Maryland Municipal League, and the of the
Attorney General. The continued interest of the press in as erting under
the Act also has a salutary deterrent effect. I
The Act calls upon us to discuss in particular "com pi ints concerning the
reasonableness of the notice provided for meetings." 10-S02.4(e)(2)(iiii). In
general, notice issues have not been a focus of complaint, probably because
the Act is quite flexible in allowing a range of notice metho s. That is, the Act
allows notice to be given by "any ... reasonable method," ncluding at
a public location near the site of the meeting or, as of J Iy 1, 2007, i on an
Internet website. Thus, the General Assembly left consid rable discretion to
each public body as to the method of public notice. As 10 g as a publit body
posts the notice or takes one of the other steps set out in the law in a Itimely
manner, the Board will not find a violation of the notice r quirement. I Public
bodies do face notice problems, however, when they call meeting on short
notice, delay a previously scheduled meeting, or decide to pen a meeting that
had previously been .scheduled as a closed meeting. The ompliance aoard's
guidance is that the public should be told of unex ected
developments as soon as practicable, by whatever means ar feasible under the
circumstances. Issues about notice were discussed in the following opi'nions:
6 OMeB Opinions 41 (2008), 6 OMeB Opinions 47 (2008), 6 OMeB Opinibns 85
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(2009), 6 OMeB Opinions 89 (2009), and 6 OMeB Opinion 110 (2009l
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Legislative Recommendations I
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The Compliance Board is to report annually "any re for
improvements to the provisions" of the Act. 0-502.4(e)(2)(v).
Notwithstanding our discussion of notice issues in the pr eding paraciraph,
based on discussion at our annual meeting, we recomme d that the Act be
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amended to alter the manner public bodies must give noti e of meetingis and
that a limitations period be added to the Compliance Board s process. I
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.. Notice information I
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The Compliance Board is concerned whether the a en Meetingsl Act's
notice provisions adequately fulfill the policy underlying the ct. Today, many
public bodies rely on websites to give notice of their meeti gs, an optioin not
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ft.nnua\ Re orto . \lU\\C body could
. ava\\able when the A.ct was 1,rs't 0. . . J 0
, -Com liance Boar
f the 0 en Meet'" S I
. schedule a particular meeting, providing 0 a poar .,
notwithstanding its regUlarP.ractic.e of using its
with the Act. Of course, notice in this manner IS me mngless fa those
accustomed to monitoring the website. In our view, r gular relian e on a
public body's website is perhaps the most effective mean. of providinglnotice.
Nevertheless, we recognize that not every public body h s created a rebsite
or is able to regularly maintain' a website. Thus, we r commend the
General Assembly require a PUb.liC b.OdY to regularly post otice of its Iljeetings
on a website or, if no website is available, by posting notic at a predett:fmined
convenient location. Both options w. ould all.ow notic.e t be given.1
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emergency meetings scheduled on short notice. Nor wo Id this requ rement
preclude a public bodyJrom providing notice by any addi ional metho . .",,".'
We also recommend that the notice reflect the date i was posted
in order to allow an assessment of whether the Ie gth of notife was
"reasonable." Unlike notice in a newspaper or in the Maiyl nd Register,lit is not
possible t.o determine the date notice was given abse t. inclusion If such
information. I
To accomplish these two goals, we would recomm nd that 101-506 of
the Act be amended as follows: I
Article - State Government I
10-506.
(a) Before meeting in a closed or open session, a p blic body give
reasonable advance notice of the session. I
(b) [Whenever reasonable, a notice] NOTICE un er this sectibn shall
INCLUDE: I
(1) [be in writing;
(2) include] the date, time, and place of the s ssion; [and
(2) THE DATE THAT THE NOTICE UNDERS BSECTION (C){1)
OF THIS SECTION IS POSTED; AND . I
. (3) if appropriate, [include] a statement th t a part or LII ofa
meetmg may be conducted in closed session. F
(c){l) A public b. ody [may] SH. ALL give notice u der this [as
follows]: . I
. . [(1) if a public body is a unit of the St te nt, by
publication In the Maryland Register; .
(2) by delivery to representatives of t e news me ia who
regularly report on sessions of the public body or t e activities lof the
government of which the public body is a part; I
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: ....
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. . (3) if the public body previously has giv n public notiil!ce that
this method will be used: . .
(i) by posting or depositing the no ice at a convenient
public location at or near the place of the session; or I
, (ii) by posting the notice on an Intern t website ordinarily
used by the public body to provide information to the pub ic; or l
(4) by any other reasonable method]
(I) BY POSTING THE NOTICE ON AN IN ERNET WEI SITE
ORDINARILY USED BY THE PUBLIC BODY TO PROVI E INFORM,TION
TO THE PUBLICi OR I
(II) IF THE PUBLIC BODY DOES OT
MAINTAIN A WEBSITE OR HAVE ACCESS TO A WEB ITE TO PRCPVIDE
INFORMATION TO THE PUBLIC, BY POSTING T E NOTICE IAT A
CONVENIENT LOCATION ACCESSIBLE TO THE PUBLI AND REG4ARLY
USED BY THE PUBLIC BODY FOR POSTING NOTICES. J
(2) IN ADDITION TO PROVIDING NOTICE N ACCORqANCE
WITH PARAGRAPH (1) OF THIS SUBSECTION, A P BLIC BOD\f MAY
GIVE NOTICE OF A MEETING BY ANY OTHER METHOD HAT THE PUBLIC
BODY CONSIDERS APPROPRIATE. I
(d) A public body shall keep a copy of a noti e provided under
SUBSECTION (e)(l) OF this section for at least 1 year a er the date of the
session .
.. Compliance Board Process - Limitations Per od
The Compliance Board is concerned about complaints filed against public
bodies pertaining to meetings that occurred more th n a year earlier.
ConSidering that opinions of the Compliance Board are stri tly advisory,lin our
view, the key value of our opinions is to assist public bodie in ensuring future
compliance with the Act. Thus, the value of looking back 10 ger than year
is limited. Perhaps more significantly, the Act requires publi bodies to maintain
records required under the Act for a one-year period. Th s, we
that 10-502.5(b) of the Act be amended as follows to i stitute a one-year
limitations period:
Article - State Government
10-502.5.
(b) (1) The complaint shall:
[(1)] (I) be signed by the person making
. [(2)] (II) identify the public body, speci
public body, the date of the action, and the circumstances
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the action bf the
f the action.i
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(2) A COMPLAINT SHALL BE FILED WITHI ONE YEAR
THE ACTION OCCURRED THAT IS THE BASIS FOR T E COMPLAINT.
.. Minutes
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We have been asked by a member of the public, s. Holly JOsJPh, to
recommend that 10-S09(c)(2) be amended to require t at a summarY of a
closed session appear in any minutes "prepared" for its ext open
Under current law, the report of a closed meeting must be included lin the
minutes for its next open session, meaning the disclosure ay not actually be
made until the second meeting following a closed session, the time the
minutes for the "next open session" are normally appro ed. Ms. Joseph's
proposal would require that this information appear in mi utes at
the next meeting I
In practice, many public bodies include the required information lin the
minutes of a public session held the same date as a closed eeting - a
the Compliance Board has approved, provided the public is aware of the public
body's practice. We have not heard similar complaint as to this issue.
Furthermore, the public body that prompted Ms. Johnson to contact UlS has
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agreed to modify its practice to ensure the information is a ailable at the next
regular meeting. Thus, we decline to recommend any chan e to the Ad as to
this issue.