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Budget panel discusses FOIA training: emails OK for information but not deliberation
Summary
Committee members who attended FOIA training said emails may be used to share information and prepare, but not to deliberate or make policy decisions; they recommended attaching substantive emails and documents to meeting agendas or minutes so the public can access them.
Committee members who attended a FOIA training summarized the guidance they received and urged consistent public posting of meeting documents. "My takeaways from the FOIA training ... were that it's okay for us to use email to organize and plan meetings and to disseminate information," Julian Sands said, noting a key boundary: once emails become a forum for recommendations or deliberation they risk violating FOIA rules.
Members discussed using a central public folder or website links where agenda items and background documents can be posted before meetings so remote viewers and the public can review materials. One member offered to provide training on using the town website to hyperlink background files to agenda items, and others suggested attaching substantive incoming emails to the minutes so that the record is complete for those who view recordings later.
The committee identified a single staff contact for posting (Hans Rasmussen was named as the person to receive files) and agreed that procedural emails—requests for information or spreadsheets—are acceptable so long as members do not use replies to create a deliberative thread outside public meetings.
