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Attorney warns: no board group chats; use liaison or noticed meetings to avoid Sunshine violations
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Summary
City legal counsel advised the Women’s Commission that private group chats among board members risk violating Sunshine law and that routine event notices should be distributed by the liaison or in a publicly noticed meeting.
City legal counsel advised commissioners that under Sunshine rules they should avoid private group chats or other forms of member‑to‑member electronic communication about official business. Counsel said members may speak informally in non‑official contexts provided they do not deliberate on matters that could lead to board action; for official conversations about commission duties the correct path is a publicly noticed meeting or coordination through the board liaison.
Commissioners asked whether a shared Google Calendar or meeting invite system could help coordination. Counsel and the liaison warned that a collaboratively editable calendar accessible to multiple board members creates a risk of appearing to deliberate; the recommended approach was for the liaison to publish meeting invites and for members to use view‑only access where feasible.
The counsel’s guidance prompted members to agree to restrict substantive program planning to noticed meetings, to route day‑to‑day logistics through the liaison, and to ask for more timely pre‑meeting notices when possible.
