Open Meetings
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State Says Citing “Personnel” as Justification for Closing Meeting is Insufficient
For a couple of years Elkton politicians have talked about improving transparency in government, but their actions don’t supporting the opening up proceedings to the pubic. They’ve demonstrated it again this week when at the start of a workshop Mayor Joseph Fisona ordered staff to stop the video recorder. (His ordered also included all future [...]
Shocked at How Democracy Really Works Locally – [Sherry Adam]
I will be the first to admit that until politics came to my back door in the form of the Foreign Affairs Security Training Center (FASTC) over four months ago, I was unaware of the importance of each American to be involved; especially with their local government. As an American, the democratic process seems to [...]
Centreville Town Council and Planning Commissions found in violation of Open Meetings Act
The Maryland Office of the Attorney General`s Open Meetings Compliance Board “find that both the Council and the Planning Commission violated the Open Meetings Act in failing to approve minutes of certain public meetings in a timely fashion. Furthermore, we find that the Council violated the Act by failing to provide an adequate description of [...]
Press association, counties argue over open meetings bill [MD Reporter]
The state press association and county officials are at odds over a bill that seeks to close a loophole in Maryland’s open meetings law, which allows some public officials to bar access to their deliberations. The bill stems from a Kent County incident in which the county commissioners cited a “memorandum of understanding” to bar [...]
Town Council planning Dec. 18 response to citizen complaint on closed meetings
The Town Council will respond to a complaint about how it reports its minutes and closed meetings by a Dec. 18 deadline, said Steve Kehoe, attorney for the council. If the board that examines such complaints determines that the three-member body needs to improve its practices, they will listen, he added. Centreville resident Sveinn Storm [...]
Open Meetings Act Complaint Filed Against Town Manager
A complaint was filed with State Attorney General`s Open Meetings Act Compliance Board alleging numerous violations of the Open Meetings Act by the Centreville Town Manager. They include: No minutes have been produced for several meetings or were not released in a timely manner. (Eight instances) The reason given for closing several sessions merely repeat [...]
State: Worcester violated meetings law
A closed session decision by the Worcester County Commissioners to consolidate three county departments has been found in violation of Maryland’s sunshine laws. In response to a complaint from the Assateague Coastal Trust, the Open Meetings Compliance Board found that the discussion that took place during the May 26 closed session “did not qualify as [...]
School board found in violation of Open Meetings Act
The state’s Open Meetings Compliance Board found the Frederick County Board of Education violated the Maryland Open Meetings Act during a closed meeting earlier this year. The board investigated a complaint made by The Frederick News-Post regarding a school board closed session, and offered its findings in a letter dated Aug. 3. School board vice [...]
Assateague Coastal Trust Files Complaint with MD Open Meetings Compliance Board
Assateague Coastal Trust (ACT) has announced today that it has filed a complaint with the Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board, through the state Attorney General’s office. The seven page Complaint, with four sets of exhibits attached, was filed to formally complain regarding actions taken by the Worcester County Commissioners on May 26, 2009 in closed [...]
Open meetings law may be unconstitutional, court rules
In an opinion that could call into question the constitutionality of open meetings laws everywhere, a federal appellate court held Monday that the Texas Open Meetings law must pass a heightened constitutional test under the First Amendment. In a relatively brief opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans (5th Cir.) held that elected [...]
Videotape ban based on incorrect advice
Relying on incorrect advice, three Western Maryland state representatives tried to prohibit a Cumberland, Md., man from videotaping a public meeting in Annapolis on Tuesday. When Marc Nelson defended his right to videotape under the state’s Open Meetings Act, two representatives — including Del. LeRoy E. Myers Jr., R-Washington/Allegany — left and the meeting dissolved. [...]
Delegation stops meeting with commissioners when resident videos discussion
CUMBERLAND — A scheduled meeting between the District 1 legislative delegation and all three Allegany County commissioners came to an abrupt halt Tuesday when Delegate LeRoy Myers expressed concern over Cumberland resident Marc Nelson videotaping the discussion. The intent was to discuss the commissioners’ opposition to possible legislation that would extend the period of time [...]
Resident files complaint against Betterton
Anita Williams says unpublicized council meetings here June 18 and 19 were illegal, and that the town has failed to comply with state law that governs public access to meetings. Williams mailed a one-page complaint to the state’s Open Meetings Compliance Board in Baltimore on Aug. 1. The OMCB is charged with ruling on public-access [...]
QA’s commissioners accused of holding illegal closed meetings
When the Queen Anne’s County Commissioners voted behind closed doors to suspend competitive bidding policy and award a no-bid contract, someone noticed. Angela Price, Kent Island editor for The Star Democrat, filed a complaint with the state’s Open Meetings Compliance Board, Oct. 20. She alleged they acted illegally by approving a contract and changing policy [...]
QAC Commissioners violate Open Meetings Act
Angela Price, Editor of the The Kent Island Bay Times, filed an complaint with the Open Meetings Compliance Board alleging that the Board of County Commissioners of Queen Anne’s County violated the Open Meetings Act in several respects: (1) that a closed session on September 25, 2007, was required by the Act to have been [...]
Council violated open meeting law
The Chestertown Town Council violated the Maryland open meeting law in connection with two closed sessions it held back in April. According to an opinion by the Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board, council violated the state open meetings act in connection with the closed meetings it held April 11 and 16 by failing t (1) [...]
Hebron closed meeting queried
Hebron Commissioners allegedly violated Maryland’s opening meeting law during a recent closed meeting by not advertising it, according to a complaint under review by a state advisory board. The closed meeting in question, which preceded an open meeting Aug. 1, was in violation for two reasons, said T.J. Mumford, the Wicomico County resident who filed [...]

Sveinn Storm has received a reply to his open meetings act complaint.  Here is a copy of the Attorney General's Opinion.

Here is some additional information concerning an earlier complaint filed with the Open Meetings Compliance Board.

Here is a copy of the Opinion of the Attorney General's Office - "The Council's failure to produce or approve minutes for numerous work sessions for an extended period violated the Act. It appears that documents required under the Act, namely minutes of certain closed sessions and work sessions and summaries following closed meetings to be included in publicly-available minutes, simply do not exist - a violation. In other cases, the Council indicated that certain documents relevant to the complaint were on file but did not produce the documents in response to the Compliance Board's request - itself a violation. The summary of a closed session held May 19, 2005, provided by the Council satisfied the disclosure requirements of the Act. Disclosure of the justifications for closing meetings for the period covered by the complaint were inadequate, because they merely parroted the applicable statutory exemption. Finally, continued discussion by a quorum of the Council following apparent conclusion of a public meeting violated the Act."

Here is a letter from the Town in response to the complaint.

Here is a letter from the Attorney General to the Town requesting additional information from the Town.

Here is a complaint filed with the Open Meetings Compliance Board - for "... failure to provide minutes of meetings in a timely manner. ... inadequate reasons for conducting a closed session, no summary of closed meetings provided in the following closed meeting, failure to generate minutes of closed sessions in a timely manner, and discussions of a quorum of officials continuing during breaks."

Audio clip of a "break" during a work session - Donna Turner and Norman Pinder grab Sheriff Crossley and talk about educating the public on how ineffective truck enforcement will be in reducing truck traffic.

Agenda from the January 5, 2006 Town Council Meeting - description of closed meeting is inadequate.

The Attorney General's Maryland Open Meetings Act Manual - "It is essential to the maintenance of a democratic society that, except in special and appropriate circumstances: public business be performed in an open and public manner; and citizens be allowed to observe: the performance of public officials; and the deliberations and decisions that the making of public policy involves."

The following are related rulings from the Attorney General's office: 

Aberdeen conducted a meeting that, in the midst of an announced recess, failed to be in open session as required by the Act - "Similarly, a presiding officers announcement that a meeting will be in recess for a stated period of time would cause members of the public to believe that no discussion of public business by a quorum of the public body would occur during the recess. Some members of the audience undoubtedly leave the meeting room during a recess to attend to personal matters. If a meeting in fact occurs during an announced recess, the meeting is not 'open' to all members of the public who wish to observe it, even if those who happen to remain in the room can do so."
Poolesville failed to provide sufficient information in the written statement required for a closed meeting - "The written statement requirement serves several objectives, .... First, the written statement gives the public body one last opportunity to consider whether a closed session really is necessary. ... . Second, the written statement helps enable members of the public who will be barred from the closed session to understand that this exception to the principle of openness is well-grounded. Finally, the written statement is an accountability tool, for an interested observer can compare what is said in the written statement preceding the meeting with what is said in the minutes summarizing the actual conduct of the meeting, and infer whether the public body hewed to the topic that justified the closing."
Riverdale failed to properly report close meetings - "A public body must find a way to inform the public of the 'topic of discussion' beyond the label 'personnel matter.' For example, the body might say (assuming this were the situation), 'Consideration of disciplinary action for alleged violations of municipal policy.' As this example indicates, there is a middle ground between identifying the individual whose personnel matter is involved, which is not required, and saying nothing more than the formulaic 'personnel matter,' which is impermissible."
The Montgomery County Council failed to provide a separate and distinct description of the topic to be discussed in advance of its closed meeting. "If the public body simply describes the topic of the meeting as personnel, it has effectively omitted the topic description, for the public knows nothing more than it already knew by the citation of the exception alone."
Poolesville failed to prepare minutes for various meetings during 2004 in a timely manner - "had the Planning Commission acted aggressively to add approval of the minutes of the meetings of September 17 and October 15, 2003, to the November 12 agenda and then acted on the item, we would not have found a violation."