I posted the following comment to her blog post but rather than make my comment public she chose to e-mail me privately. My comment:
"What if an informal meeting of 2 or more council members has been going on say every Monday afternoon at a prearranged place and time for many years? Would such a meeting then be considered a public meeting?"
Professor Bluestein's reply:
The answer depends upon whether the council members are considered to be a "public body" under the statute. The statute defines "public body" as:
"any elected or appointed authority, board, commission, committee, council, or other body of the State, or of one or more counties, cities, school administrative units, constituent institutions of The University of North Carolina, or other political subdivisions or public corporations in the State that (i) is composed of two or more members and (ii) exercises or is authorized to exercise a legislative, policy-making, quasi-judicial, administrative, or advisory function."
So the question is whether these people are elected or appointed by the council as a "bod" to carry out specific functions, or whether they do this on their own or for more informal communication and ongoing relations or information gathering purposes, but not as an intentionally created or sanctioned body.
I hope this is helpful.
Frayda"
To which I returned an e-mail to her:
"Frayda,
For 18 years, Greensboro Mayor Robbie Perkins, Greensboro Councilwoman Nancy Vaughan, other members of council and local developers have held a weekly Monday afternoon luncheon at a restaurant known as Anton's until the restaurant closed a few weeks ago. This is where local policy is hammered out. I've asked the City of Greensboro for minutes of these meetings but they refuse. I find it utterly absurd to think that a meeting could go on for 18 years and no fall into ""any elected or appointed authority, board, commission, committee, council, or other body of the State, or of one or more counties, cities, school administrative units, constituent institutions of The University of North Carolina, or other political subdivisions or public corporations in the State that (i) is composed of two or more members and (ii) exercises or is authorized to exercise a legislative, policy-making, quasi-judicial, administrative, or advisory function."" at least part of the time if not all the time. Do you not agree?"
And her final reply:
"Hi Billy:
I can't really render an opinion about 18 years worth of meetings about which I don't know the specific facts. I can say that in order for a meeting to fall within the statute, there would have to be a majority of the members of council present, or an appointed or elected group serving as a committee of the council, and the conversation would have to relate to city business, as opposed to purely social interaction. If those factors are not present, then the open meetings law is not triggered.
Frayda"
You can make of it what you like, why she chose not to make my comment public, what the answers mean whatever. And if you'd like to examine the e-mails then e-mail me at RecycleBill@gmail.com and I'll forward them to you.
