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Home My WebLink AboutNew Law Requiring Availability of Records Prior to Open Meeting.PDFPage I of2 Sent: Friday, January 06,2012 4..46 pM To: MaryMiils;VCH-Trustees;VCH-Dept-{eads;VCH-pranning-Board;vcH_ZBA Cc: Angela Podufalski subject: RE: New Law Requiring Availability of iecords prior to open Meeting Yes, the Village is very gctoci about beinf transparent ancl cJisclosing informatioll tc)the residerrts (trnforntnately, other.mutli.i.rrrliii., nr. ,.,,rt as goocl about it thor-rghand that is the reason for the new iaw). Th* q.r.otion Bea has raisecl was with regarclto the police officer's repofts, fire chieff ,*porrr, alxftacrs, etc. I have cliscussed t6iswith Randy ancl pursuant to the new l+ *; [',oti", believe that those d.cumentsshould be made available to the public ,fs w*11. Therefbre, you should put thosereports on the viliage's website as sooll {u y.,., receive them'(possib$ irr the samelocation :rs.the Agenda). Y-ou rn'ill u*"{ to make sure that there are no confid,entialor persolral items in tlhose reports thou/h (i.e. anything ilc:rling with personnel issuesor llon'pLrbiic inforrnation). Basically, ar vthins tirat can be foiieil. ,r"",1, t. be puton rhe website in advance of the meetin[s. ,+oytLrirrg that is non.foilable shogld beredacteci' That mearui ZBA applicationslancl PB applications will ,r*",1 tg be posteclon the vyebsite as well, \7e are also rec.mmernding that the Villlage have all reporrs ancl documenr.s to bediscussed at the meetin.g on the u'e'bsite [it*orr 24 hor-rrs in advance. please notethat if someone asks fr:r a printed copyclf or.y.lo.ument, the Village has the right tocharge them a fee (same as the fc.,il cloculn.rrio). I am pianning c,n discussing all this rvitl.i the Tmstee's Monclay night c1-rring the Mary Mills From: Kristin Gutenberger Ikgutenberger@bgdmolaw.coml attofney fepoft as well. Best regards, Kristin E,. Gutenberger .A-ssociate Attorney Barney, Grossrn:rn, Duborv, Marcus {ir Orkin. lLLp I19 E. Seneca Street, Suit,l 400 Ithaca, New York 14850 607.773.6841 0) 607.272"8806 0r) Please Note: 'Ihe infolmation cuttainecl in this e-mail ,trlrrug. is conficlential ancl intenclecl only for the irrdivicl*al orentity to whom it is acldresserd, and may also be protectep by*the attonrey-client privilege. If the reader o{.thismessage is not the intended recipient. you are hereby l"itliq rhat any dissemjnation, d]stribution or copying of thise-mail message is strictly^prohibited' If you havere::t{q this e-maii in enor, please irnrnediately notify the senderby teleplrone {601-273-6s41), by fax 6b'/-272-s800), orf by r.turn "r*it, and delete this e-mait message. IRS Circular 230 disclosure: . To.elsure compliance wittf "requirements imposed by the lRS, we infbrm you that anyU's' federal tax advice contained in this communication linctucting aoy-atiactrrnents; is notintencled or written to beused, ancl cannot be used, lbr the purpose o{'(i) avoicling penalties"under the Inteinai Revenue Cocle or (ii) 0U09t2012 Page 2 of2 Thank you - Mary Sent: Friday, January 06,2OlZ 2:03 pM To: Mary Mills subject: New Law Requiring Availability of necofds prior to open Meeting To: Mayors, Managers, Administratois, Clerks, Fiscal Officers and Attorneys From: Peter Baynes;, NYCOM Executive Director Re: New Law Requiring Availability df Records prior to open Meeting On January 3rd, Governor Cuomo sif ned into law an amendment to the State'sOgen Meetings Law requiring local gpvernments to make available to the public -prior to or at an open meeting - cerQin records which will be the subject ofdiscussion at the meleting. Many of tfre media reports of this new law have beenvague, misleading and/or inaccurate. Therefore, I strongly suggest you reviewNYCOM's attached_rsL.lmmary of Chapter 603 of tfr intoeffect on February 2,2012. NYCOM opposed this legislation basbd on the fact that we strongly believe it wasunnecessary and would impose an unfunded mandate on our members. lt is worthnoting that at NYCOM's insistence, t{e law was amended prior to its enactment toinclude. language sprecifically stating lhat a municipality shall not be required toexpend additional money in order to domply with the law. !f you have any ques;tions regarding tfie law, please feel free to contact Johnl\/la^^i^i t\l\//-n n i f\-.,,-^^r -L F/ ^ ]^^ ' ' ^:'Mancini, NYCOM counser, at 51a-4og-t 1g5 or imancini@nvcom.orq. 01t09t20r2 New L'w_Requires cdrtain Records Be Made Avaifabreto the Public prior to Open Meetings on January l3rd, Governor c4romo signed into raw an amendment tothe state's open Meetings L{w requiring rocar governments to makeavailable to flhepublic, prio-r !o or at an open meeting, certain recordswhich will be the s1b,1e9t ol discussion at the meeting. The new rawapplies to eu:ry pubric body rJyittrin ttre muntiparity. specificaily,public record,s which.are ariehdy avairabre under ForL, in addition toany proposecl resolution,, r"y, rure, reguration, poricy oi "ny - amendment, that l: :"h"durgd to bJthe topic of discussion by apublic body at an op:n meetifrg, must be made avairabre -- upon l?li,",l.l;;1"^lh:ty?]f p'lg't9 or at the meetins, to the exteni ined bv the municipali charging a reiasonable fee for current FOIL fees. This legislatio,n does not requ documents free of charge. ln re municipalities to provide these act, municipalities have the option of such documents, consistent with llities that maintain a ,'regularly and that utilize a high speed internet The law also requires munici routinely upderted website an connection" to post the inform ion on the municipal website prior tothe meeting to the determined bv theqovernment. NYCOM opposed this legistatipn based on the fact that we stronglybelieve it was unnecessary and wourd impoiu "n unfunded mandateon our memberrs. lt is worth noting that at NycoM,s insistence, thelaw was amend.ed prior to its fnactment to include tanguage - specifically starting _that,a munigipality shart not be required to expendadditional morey 1n^91o9r.to c{mpry with the raw. The raw (chapter603 of the Lavrrs of 2011) take{ effect on Febru ary 2, 2012. Questions concerning the new raw shourd be directed to NycoMcounsel John Mancini at 51a-{oe-r 1g5 or jmancini@nycom.org.