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Training warns Ruston officials against serial meetings and clarifies executive-session limits
Summary
City Attorney Jennifer S. Robertson emphasized that serial communications among members can violate the Open Public Meetings Act and reviewed authorized executive session topics and the requirement that no final action be taken in executive session.
City Attorney Jennifer S. Robertson told the Ruston City Council and Planning Commission that sequential private communications (texts, emails, social-media exchanges) that collectively involve a majority of members may constitute a “serial meeting” and thus violate the Open Public Meetings Act. She illustrated the risk with a hypothetical email-and-text chain and advised that if members intend to deliberate or reach agreement, the conversation must occur in a properly noticed public meeting.
Robertson also reviewed the narrow statutory purposes for executive sessions under RCW 42.30.110, including real estate acquisition, evaluation of candidates for appointment, and litigation strategy. She stressed that the presiding officer must publicly announce the general purpose and expected end time before convening an executive session and reminded attendees that "no final action" may be taken while the public is excluded.
