Council Staff Endorses Work Group Report; Denies Open Meetings Act Applies

The Montgomery County Council has released it's Work Group Report on Artificial Turf. The Report will be discussed by Council Committees on Monday, September 26, 2011 at 2 PM. The hearing will be televised on the Montgomery Cable Channel.


In the Committee Packet, Council staff felt the need to state that in their opinion the Work Group does not fall under the Maryland Open Meetings Act. That means that the public has no idea how many meetings the Work Group held, no idea of what the agenda of any meetings was, and has no access to any minutes of the Work Group. (Wasn't this the issue discussed by Montgomery County's former Inspector General in his letter in The Washington Post yesterday?)


Council staff concludes their summary of the Not an Open Meetings Act Work Group Report by stating:

Council staff believes that the Council has exercised a high degree of due diligence in these reviews. Council staff endorses the staff work group's findings.