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Trainer tells Levan officials: 'Please don't edit your recordings' as OPMA, GRAMA rules reviewed
Summary
A presenter led required open-meetings and public-records training for Levan council and planning commissioners, stressing notice, quorum and closed-session rules, the non-editability of recordings, GRAMA risk, annual training and conflict-of-interest filings.
Shay, the session presenter, led Levan’s annual open-meetings training on Feb. 12, explaining the Open and Public Meetings Act (OPMA) and advising local officials on notice, quorum, recording and executive-session procedures. "Please don't edit your recordings," Shay said, adding that recordings should run from the start to the end of a meeting and be made available to the public within three business days.
The training laid out basic notice requirements: meeting notices must list the date, time, location and an agenda that includes any item on which the body expects to take action. Shay told council members that if an item requires action it must appear on the agenda and recommended posting an annual meeting schedule so residents can plan attendance.
Shay reviewed quorum definitions and voting thresholds for Levan's five-member council: a simple majority (three members) carries ordinary votes, while entering a closed or executive session requires a two-thirds vote (four of five). He cautioned that closed meetings are limited to topics enumerated in state code—commonly personnel, litigation or contract negotiations—and that votes to decide matters must occur in open session.
On public records (GRAMA), Shay warned that many meeting-related communications—emails, texts and, in some contexts, even closed-session records—can be subject to public-records requests. "Basically everything is potentially gonna be a GRAMA request," he said, urging careful wording during deliberations.
Shay also described common practices to preserve transparency while handling sensitive matters: appointing a small hiring committee to interview candidates (avoiding a quorum of the full body), making pending minutes available within 30 days and posting approved minutes within three business days. He recommended periodic land-use training for planning commissioners and pointed attendees to the Land Use Academy of Utah for resources.
The training closed after a short Q&A about streaming meetings, .gov email requirements and whether planning commissions should ever meet in closed session. Attendees agreed to follow up on a state contract whose signed copy had not yet been returned to the state.
