Assistant city attorney briefs Portsmouth task force on FOIA limits for members

Assistant City Attorney Burl Stromberg told the Portsmouth Gun Violence Prevention Task Force on the evening it met in City Council chambers that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requires the task force to hold open meetings and make records available to the public.

Stromberg said he had distributed a two-page summary and walked members through the basics of FOIA: "FOIA stands for the Freedom of Information Act. It's a state law that, we come under and we have to abide," he said. He explained that a meeting is defined as three or more members discussing commission business and gave practical examples: if three members speak about task force business in an elevator or another informal setting, that could be considered a meeting subject to FOIA notice requirements.

Stromberg told members that, in most cases, meetings must be held in person and that holding meetings electronically is tightly limited to narrow emergency circumstances. He also emphasized public-records obligations: "All public records are open to the public, and it's any writing recordings, where, city business or commission business is transacted," noting emails and texts that relate to commission business are subject to FOIA even if held on personal devices. To reduce exposure, members were urged to use the newly issued city email addresses for task-force business.

On enforcement and penalties, Stromberg said violations can be costly and mentioned fines of up to $1,000 as a potential consequence for noncompliance. He also described the city clerk's role in maintaining records and processing public-records requests.

The assistant city attorney answered several procedural questions from members about committee minutes, reporting back to the full task force, and whether outside contacts should be reported. He advised that committee-level minutes should be taken and submitted to the full task force and confirmed that members may report outreach from outside agencies back to the commission, but cautioned against three-or-more member discussions outside a properly noticed meeting.

Task-force members requested copies of the handout; Stromberg left the materials with the group and offered to be available for follow-up questions.