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Orientation stresses Open Meetings Act limits on council email and rolling quorums
Summary
Solicitor and presenters warned Westerly councilors about rolling quorums, third‑party communications, and the need to copy the full council on substantive legal requests to avoid Open Meetings Act violations.
Town legal advisors used the Jan. 13 orientation to outline what constitutes an Open Meetings Act (OMA) violation and how email, text and informal back‑channel communication can create a prohibited “rolling quorum.”
At the meeting, a legal speaker explained the rolling‑quorum concept: one councilor tells another, who tells a third, and so on until opinions have been conveyed to a quorum without a noticed public meeting. "That's the rolling quorum. A tells b tells c tells d," the speaker said, using the sequence to show how informal chains can form a de facto majority.
Advisors told members that responding privately to a councilwide email or engaging in serial one‑to‑one communications about council business can create an Open Meetings Act complaint and require sworn affidavits in response. They said the exemption for scheduling is narrow (members may coordinate meeting times) but that substantive discussion among a quorum outside a publicly noticed meeting is prohibited.
The solicitor and staff urged councilors who ask substantive legal or policy questions to copy the council president and town manager when emailing the solicitor or staff so answers are visible to all. The solicitor said he will respond to the entire council for substantive matters to reduce the risk of inadvertent rolling‑quorum communications.
Speakers also warned against using third parties as “straw persons” to convey council business; the attorney general’s guidance, they said, treats such work‑arounds as a violation. Members asked practical questions about speaking with committee partners and whether three members of a three‑person appointments committee can discuss committee business informally; the solicitor replied that committees must generally meet openly and follow notice requirements when conducting official business.
Councilors asked for and were told a practical trip wire: if a councilor is attending a meeting in an official capacity, staff should notify the full council; scheduled meetings where a councilor represents the town should be shared as a courtesy, but off‑hand visits or private conversations do not always create notice obligations.
