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Chesapeake Beach Meeting Minutes Violation

The Compliance Board reviewed a complaint regarding the lack of publicly available minutes from a September 7, 2010 meeting of the Board of Appeals for the Town of Chesapeake Beach. The Board of Appeals conducted an open meeting with a brief closed session but never reviewed or approved draft minutes of the meeting. Under the Open Meetings Act, minutes must be approved by the public body before they are considered official and made available to the public. The Compliance Board concluded the Board of Appeals violated the Act by failing to approve minutes that were publicly accessible.

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Craig O'Donnell
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3 views2 pages

Chesapeake Beach Meeting Minutes Violation

The Compliance Board reviewed a complaint regarding the lack of publicly available minutes from a September 7, 2010 meeting of the Board of Appeals for the Town of Chesapeake Beach. The Board of Appeals conducted an open meeting with a brief closed session but never reviewed or approved draft minutes of the meeting. Under the Open Meetings Act, minutes must be approved by the public body before they are considered official and made available to the public. The Compliance Board concluded the Board of Appeals violated the Act by failing to approve minutes that were publicly accessible.

Uploaded by

Craig O'Donnell
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

7 Official Opinions of the Compliance Board 83 (2011)

Minutes Review and approval of draft minutes by public


body Public access to minutes
January 10, 2011
Mr. Gary E. Coldsmith
The complaint relates to a hearing held by the Board of Appeals for the
Town of Chesapeake Beach on September 7, 2010. There appears to be no
dispute that the meeting was subject to the Open Meetings Act. The Board of
Appeals conducted the hearing as an open meeting, except for a brief closed
session to consult with its counsel on a legal issue. The complaint concerns
the minutes or lack thereof for that meeting.
We conclude that the Board of Appeals violated the Act in failing to have
minutes approved by the Board that are publicly accessible. We note that the
Board of Appeals has indicated that it will soon consider the adoption of new
procedures that will avoid future violations.
I
Complaint and Response
The complaint alleged that no minutes of the September 7, 2010 meeting,
including its closed portion, were made available to the public. The
complainant did not indicate when, or under what circumstances, he made a
request to review the minutes. The response by the Board of Appeals stated
that the complainant inquired about the minutes of the September 7 meeting
at the next meeting of the Board of Appeals in October 2010. At that time, the
Secretary of the Board of Appeals stated that, because that Board does not
approve its minutes, minutes for a prior meeting are not typically set out for the
public at a subsequent meeting. The Board of Appeals response also suggests
that the complainant did not clearly request access to the minutes.
In the response to the complaint, counsel for the Board of Appeals stated
that its practice was likely to change in the near future. She indicated that new
rules of procedure will likely require that draft minutes be placed on the
agenda of the immediately subsequent meeting for approval and, upon
approval, be made available to the public.
83
7 Official Opinions of the Compliance Board 83 (2011) 84
II
Access to Minutes
The Open Meetings Act requires that minutes be prepared for a meeting
governed by the Act. 10-509. The minutes are to include at least the
information set out in 10-509(c). As we have held on a number of occasions,
draft minutes that are not reviewed and approved by the public body do not
satisfy this requirement. As a legal matter, the minutes of a public body
become such only after the public body itself has had an opportunity to review
and correct the work of whoever prepared the draft minutes. 2 OMCB
Opinions 11, 13 (1998) (emphasis in original); see also 6 OMCB Opinions
187, 190 (2009); 3 OMCB Opinions 303, 306 (2003). Once draft minutes are
adopted by a public body, they are to be open to public inspection during
regular business hours. 10-509(d).
There appears to be no dispute that the Board of Appeals never reviewed
or approved the draft minutes of the September 7, 2010 meeting. Thus,
whether or not the complainant clearly requested access to the minutes, the
draft that existed did not satisfy the requirements of the Act. We believe that
the anticipated change in the Boards procedures concerning its minutes will
help clarify the status and availability of its minutes to the public.
III
Conclusion
The Board of Appeals violated the Open Meetings Act in that it did not
consider and approve minutes for its September 7, 2010 meeting. The
anticipated change in the Boards procedures concerning its minutes should
help ensure compliance in the future.
OPEN MEETINGS COMPLIANCE BOARD
Elizabeth L. Nilson, Esquire
Courtney J. McKeldin
Julio A. Morales, Esquire

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