Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Sunshine Law topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Town attorney cautions council: citizen committees and their records are public under sunshine rules
Summary
The town attorney told council members that advisory citizen committees are typically subject to sunshine law and that committee materials (applications, notes, emails) would be public records unless a statutory exemption applies.
At the special meeting, the town attorney told the council that creating a formal citizen advisory committee for the town manager search would trigger sunshine-law obligations and public-records exposure for committee materials.
The attorney said, “If we were to set up a committee... any materials prepared, received, reviewed, or utilized by the committee in the connection of its duties, including applications, ranking notes, scoring sheets, emails, text communication, and documents made or received in connection with official business constitute public records, unless a specific statutory exemption applies.” The attorney added that advisory committees are, by their nature, subject to sunshine and that there is no legal “trick” to avoid those obligations. He warned that one-sided communications are permitted but that replies creating a dialogue among council members can create inadvertent sunshine violations.
Council members said they appreciated the guidance; some cited the administrative burden and risk of divisiveness from public-records requests and proposed alternatives such as informal resident review, individual meetings with council members, or posting materials online for public review.
