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Orientation stresses FOIA obligations: agendas, public records, and electronic communications
Summary
Trainer reviewed South Carolina FOIA obligations for public bodies, the statutory definition of public records, agenda‑posting rules (24 hours), and cautioned that private emails or texts used for public business can be discoverable.
During the orientation, Fragoso summarized Freedom of Information Act obligations for municipal public bodies, urging council members to treat meetings and records with transparency. She said FOIA requires written agendas posted publicly at least 24 hours before a meeting (except for narrowly defined emergencies) and that staff committees formed to review proposals can themselves be public bodies subject to FOIA.
Fragoso warned that private communications used for official business—personal email, texts or social‑media messages—can be subject to public‑records requests. She advised forwarding constituent messages to city accounts and consulting the town attorney when in doubt: "Anything that you write, anywhere...could be discoverable and could be made public," she said.
