HomeMy WebLinkAboutRE Open Meetings Law Requirements in Connection with Committee Meetings.PDFThis is an Attorney/Client Privileged Communication and is intended only for the
Mayor and the Board of Trustees.
TO:
FROM:
RE:
DATE:November 11,2008
This memorandum is provided to address various questions that have been raised concerning the
requirements of the Open Meetings Law (OPM) as applied to meetings of committees of the
Village, and, in particular, meetings of the Deer Remediation Advisory Committee (DRAC),
O_verview
Board of Trustees of the Village of Cayuga Heights
Randall B. Marcus, Esq.
open Meetings Law Requirements in connection with committee Meetings
Please note that the requirements of the pPM are considered to be clear and generally not
subject to interpretation, particularly because the statute has been in effect for over 30 years, and
because there have been many opinions rendered, both by the courts and by the State, providing
further detail and clarification of the provi$ions of the statute. The basic requir*ments of the OpM
are very well sumrnarized in the brochurq published by the NYS Committee on Open Government
entitled, "Your Right to Know," copies of r{rhich were distributed to the Board last month. As ageneral rule, the OPM applies to any megting "of a public body for the purpose of conductingpublic business." Ais defined in the law, f nd in the many interpretations of the law, a meeting of"a public body" is considered to occur if a quorum of members of a board of the municipality-is
together in same place at the same time. In the case of the Village of Cayuga Heights, this rule
would apply to meetings of the Board of lrustees, whether meeting as Truslees oias theVillage's Planning Board,. and to meetingd of the Zoning Board of Appeals. As a general rule,committees formed by a board do not theinselves consiitute "a pubiic body" becaise committeesare only advisory in nature and do not ha{e the legal authority to perform governmentalfunctions
or to make decisions that would be bindin! on the municipality, Exceptionl to this general ruleconcerning committee meetings would ocpur if a committee were made up entirely-of members ofa board, or if a quorum of board member$ were in attendance at a committee meetino..
ln the case of the seven member Board ott|re vittage of Cayuga Heights, whenever feur or moremembers of the Board are in the same rodm or at the same site, and=the purpose of the gatheringis to discuss a matter of Village business, [hat occasion constitutes a meeting of the Board, andthe Village must comply with the requiremlnis of the OPM with respect to thJt meeting. Thisapplication of the OPM would cover any DRAC meeting at which four or more Trustees arepresent. The oPM applies to anv occasioir ttrat rour oimore Board members are present for aVillage purpose. lt is not of any consequefrce who else, or how many other individuals, arepresent along with the quorum of Board mpmbers. Likewise, it is of no consequence if some orall of the Board mentbers do not actually farticipate in the discussion. lt is the'mere presence offour or more Board rnembers in a place at which Village business is being discussed that, underthe OPM, constitutes a meeting of the Board
It is my understanding that meetings of thd DRAC are likely to include four or more Boardmembers, The very presence of four or mbre Board members at a committee meeting, whether
or not any or all of those Board members f nu"t at the meeting, results in that meetinj being
lf a meeting is subject to the OPM, such as a DRAC meeting at which four or rnore Trustees are
present, th6n all requirements of the OPM apply and mubt be complied with. These requirements
include providing notice of the time and place of the meeting in the same manrler as notices of
Board meetings;re provided. These requirements also include preparation of minutes of the
DRAC meeting, which minutes are required to include a lruritten record of all of the topics
addressed an| all.proposals and decisions made at the ineeting. lf there is a likelihood that a
quorum of Trustees is going to be present at a DRACjt?elng, the prudent course of action for
the Village to follow woutC be to provide notice of the DRAC meeting in the sante format, with the
same frjquency, in the same places, as notices for Boarb meetings, and to prepare_and make
available io the public minutes in the same manner as minutes of Board meetings. The Board
should appoint the person designated to take and prepare meeting minutes,
covered by the requirements of the OPM. The fact that a quorum of Trustees is in attendance at
a DRAC meeting results in the Village being required to Qomply with all requirements of the OPM
with regard to that committee meeting, just as if it were a Board of Trustees meeting.
2, Applicable Requirements of the OPM
3. Structure and Function of a Committee
Committees, such as DRAC, are formed either by the Mayor or by the Board to provide advice on
specified topics. The members of a committee are appointed by the Mayor, if the Mayor has
formed the committee, or by the Board, if it has done so. The Mayor or the Board determines
how many people will be on tne committee, and who will chair the committee. The commiftee
itself doei hot irave control over these matters. The Mayor or the Board can determine the
*"*ting procedures (such as the use of Robert's Rules of !r!er, or some other set of rules) for
the committee, or can delegate to the commjttee the task of determining the committee's meeting
procedures. A committee has authority only to make recommendations to the Board. A
committee has no authority to spend money, to hire consultants, to make decisions that are in
any way binding on the Village or to adopt rules or regulations that are binding on anyone other
thdn th6 commfttee itself. Atommittee can vote on matters that it researches or discusses, but
any vote of the committee would be limited to voting on the recommendations or referrals that the
committee is making to the Board. Only the Board has lpgal authority to spend the Village's
funds, to bind the Viitage to take a particular course of abtion, or to enact or amend a Village law.
lf a quorum of Trustees is present at a DRAC meeting, so that the DRAC meeting is in effect a
Board meeting, and the meeting has been noticed as re{uired, and all other OPM requirements
have been salisfled, the Board theoretically could make decisions at that meeting, based upon
the advice provided during the meeting by the committee. Of course, if any Board decision itself
requires notice (such as t[e enactmenl of a local law), oi a public hearing, or SEQR compliance,
allof those requirements would, as always, have to be satisfied before the Board may take
action.
Conclusion
lf a DRAC committee meeting has four or more Trustees present, the requirements of the OPM
must be followed for the conduct of that meeting, Failurb to comply with the requirements of
OpM, just as failure to comply with any other procedural requirements of New York State law,
may result in the Village beini; subject to liability for such failure. Such liability could result from
titigltion brought by aiy person aggrieved by the lack of co_mpliance, for example, lack of
coinpliance with noti""-requirements or with requirements for preparation and availability of
meeting minutes.
Submitted via email, RBM