“Public bodies may not use behind-the-scenes recesses as a means of shortcutting further public discussion of a matter that they have just been considering in open session,”... #openmeetings

A Frederick County board ran afoul of the state Open Meetings Act in April when discussing a proposal for large events near Sugarloaf Mountain, a state compliance board ruled.

The Frederick County Board of Zoning Appeals violated state law during a 12-minute recess it took before voting at its April 23 public meeting, the Open Meetings Compliance Board wrote in an Oct. 2 written opinion. The board’s opinions are not binding.

State law does not permit the majority of a public body to discuss business outside an open meeting, unless it’s a formal closed session of an allowable topic.

The compliance board found that it’s not clear if a majority of the appeals board met as a group during its recess, but one member definitely spoke to a county attorney and another member, then the board somehow came to a consensus during the break. That violates the act, the opinion stated.

“Public bodies may not use behind-the-scenes recesses as a means of shortcutting further public discussion of a matter that they have just been considering in open session,” the board wrote...

...“From the video, it is clear that, during the recess, the county board effectively continued to deliberate on the matter that it had just been discussing publicly and effectively did so as a group. ... It may have been that only groups of less than a quorum communicated to each other during the recess, but, within that twelve-minute period, a consensus was reached,” the compliance board wrote...

 

   2015 October 6 MD Open Meetings Act Opinion by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland