Post by Logan on Jun 15, 2016 1:14:18 GMT -6
Oregon Supreme Court hears arguments in Lane County open-meetings case
SALEM — The Oregon Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments in a lawsuit that could clarify how the state’s open meetings law applies to one-on-one communications between elected officials.
The key question for the court to decide: Can “serial” or sequential one-on-one discussions by the majority of an elected body — either in person, via text messages or emails, or through a proxy — constitute a formal meeting under state law?
The state meetings law bars a majority, or quorum, of a governing body from meeting privately and without public notice to deliberate or to come to a decision. Such meetings must take place in public with advance notice of time, location and topic.
In a sequential discussion, one elected official talks privately to another, then to another, and another, ultimately talking with a majority but without letting the public know or convening a public meeting.
Read more: registerguard.com/rg/news/local/34472436-75/oregon-supreme-court-hears-arguments-in-lane-county-open-meetings-case.html.csp
SALEM — The Oregon Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments in a lawsuit that could clarify how the state’s open meetings law applies to one-on-one communications between elected officials.
The key question for the court to decide: Can “serial” or sequential one-on-one discussions by the majority of an elected body — either in person, via text messages or emails, or through a proxy — constitute a formal meeting under state law?
The state meetings law bars a majority, or quorum, of a governing body from meeting privately and without public notice to deliberate or to come to a decision. Such meetings must take place in public with advance notice of time, location and topic.
In a sequential discussion, one elected official talks privately to another, then to another, and another, ultimately talking with a majority but without letting the public know or convening a public meeting.
Read more: registerguard.com/rg/news/local/34472436-75/oregon-supreme-court-hears-arguments-in-lane-county-open-meetings-case.html.csp