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Balch Springs training warns officials to avoid —walking quorums' and informal deliberations
Summary
Attorney Caleb Smith reviewed Texas Open Meetings Act rules for Balch Springs boards, defining a meeting as deliberation by a quorum and warning that successive private contacts (including texts and social-media exchanges) can create an unlawful "walking quorum."
Smith reviewed the Texas Open Meetings Act and told members that any deliberation between a quorum about public business is subject to the act and must be properly noticed. He emphasized that a —meeting— includes verbal exchanges, emails, texts or other communications where a quorum discusses public policy.
"That's called a walking quorum," Smith said when describing successive contacts in which officials canvass opinions outside an open meeting, and he warned that such conduct can deprive the public of transparency. He also reiterated notice rules: meetings (including some advertised executive sessions) must be posted with sufficient subject detail and, in most cases, be advertised three full business days before the meeting.
Smith urged members to avoid off-meeting deliberations via text, phone or social media and to route questions through staff so that discussions occur in a duly noticed public forum.
