Morgan County commissioners receive Open Meetings Act training and vote to enter closed session on litigation

Morgan County commissioners received a presentation on the Utah Open and Public Meetings Act and related transparency requirements during a county meeting, then voted to move into a closed session to discuss pending or reasonably imminent litigation.

The presentation, delivered by Garrett Smith, covered statutory requirements including annual training expectations (citing 52-4-104), public notice standards, minutes and recording rules, limits on deliberation outside noticed meetings and the distinctions between managerial discussions and deliberations that trigger the Open Meetings Act. Smith summarized the law’s ban on members of a quorum “acting together outside a meeting in a concerted and deliberate way to predetermine an action,” and advised commissioners that electronic messages sent when the public body is not convened may be permissible provided they do not predetermine a vote. As Smith put it, “you’re not supposed to go and count your votes.”

Why it…