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Board formalizes information flow: staff updates to be routed through secretary to avoid serial-meeting risk
Summary
To reduce risk of serial meeting violations, the board agreed staff should route informational updates to the board through the district secretary (Marissa) rather than sending direct group emails or reply-all threads; blind-CCs and individual follow-ups were discussed as limited alternatives.
The board discussed an operational policy to prevent inadvertent serial meetings under open-meeting law. Chair Dale and staff agreed that Ken (infrastructure coordinator) would send informational summaries to the district secretary (Marissa), who would then distribute those items to board members as an official record.
The board discussed practical workflows: staff can blind-CC (BCC) other board members for informational purposes, but substantive back-and-forth among three or more members could create a quorum and a potential open-meeting violation. The chair emphasized transparency and using the secretary as an intermediary so staff can quickly share outage notifications and meeting recaps while preserving legal compliance.
The board did not adopt a formal written policy at the meeting but agreed to apply this intermediary practice going forward and to consult counsel (Nancy Porter) for any remaining questions about permissible communications.
