PNA Legal Hotline: 'Retreat' to discuss five-year plan should be public
From the
PNA Legal
Hotline
By Teri
Henning, General Counsel
and Melissa Melewsky, Media Law Counsel
Pennsylvania
Newspaper Association
Q: The county housing authority is planning
to hold a “summer retreat” for its members to
work on the agency’s five-year plan. The retreat
is not open to the public. Doesn’t the Sunshine
Act require this type of discussion to be held at
a public meeting?
A: Yes. The Sunshine Act requires that any time a
quorum of an agency deliberates agency business
or takes official action, it must do so at a
public meeting unless an exception applies. There
are several limited exceptions that allow some
discussions to happen outside a public meeting,
but there is no blanket exception for strategic
planning and no exception that allows official
action to take place privately.
A quorum of an agency is the number required to
take official action, usually one more than half.
Deliberation and agency business are both broadly
defined by law. Deliberation is “the discussion
of agency business held for the purpose of making
a decision.” Agency business is defined to
include “the framing, preparation, making or
enactment of laws, policy or regulations. These
broad definitions, coupled with the intent of the
law, leads to the conclusion that most agency
discussions must take place at a public meeting.
If a quorum is discussing an agency’s strategic
plan, the discussion should be held during a
public meeting. There may be portions of the
discussion that can be discussed privately such
as discussions about specific personnel,
litigation, the purchase or lease of real estate
and collective bargaining. However, official
action and most other discussions of agency
business, including finance discussions and
policy goals must take place during a public
meeting.
Pennsylvania Newspaper Association attorneys provide member newspapers with advice on the state's open records and open meetings laws.