Committee seeks list of held executive-session minutes; solicitor to advise on process

The Charter & Rules Committee on Jan. 27 reviewed an order from Councilor Bartley asking the council to adopt a rule requiring regular public announcement and review of executive-session minutes that remain withheld or redacted.

Solicitor Bissonnette briefed the committee on the open meeting law’s requirements: minutes from executive sessions remain privileged until the basis for the exemption no longer applies, at which point the body should consider release or redaction. He said minutes must be approved (typically in executive session) before release, and independent public bodies (for example, the Board of Public Works) are responsible for their own compliance and may face civil penalties if they violate the law.

Committee members discussed options: a standing agenda item listing withheld executive-session minutes for the council’s own meetings; a rule or ordinance requiring other public boards to notify the council of held executive-session minutes; and whether the council should require a periodic report from the law department identifying minutes that are eligible for release.

Bissonnette cautioned that a detailed list of withheld executive-session minutes may itself be covered by executive session procedures unless the subject matter is public. He told the committee it is permissible to require public bodies to notify the city council but that imposing such a rule on independent boards may be better placed in ordinance language rather than in the council’s internal rules.

The committee asked the solicitor for an updated list of the council’s own executive-session minutes that remain withheld and requested legal feedback on whether to adopt a rule or an ordinance requiring other public bodies to provide notice. The committee voted to table the order pending that updated list and legal guidance and to pursue ordinance drafting as appropriate.

Quote: “Once that rationale for the exemption is gone, then, the protection no longer abides,” Solicitor Bissonnette said, describing when executive-session minutes should be released.

Ending: The committee instructed the solicitor to prepare an updated list of withheld executive-session minutes for the council and to advise whether a rule or an ordinance is the appropriate vehicle to require other public bodies to notify the council; the item was tabled for that follow-up.