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Committee warned about 'reply all' pitfalls under Open Public Meetings Act, proposes archived mailing list
Summary
A member cautioned that replying-all to group emails can violate the Open Public Meetings Act and suggested creating an archived mailing list for information-only messages; members agreed to explore the approach and to use the committee email as the public archive.
A committee member flagged that using 'reply all' on committee email threads can create an inadvertent quorum and run afoul of the Open Public Meetings Act; members agreed as a best practice to avoid substantive reply-all exchanges.
Another member suggested creating a dedicated mailing list to archive notices (for visibility) while prohibiting discussion on the list so it would not create a quorum. That member said they had asked Whatcom County lawyers and received a nuanced response, so the committee agreed to refine procedures and make the PRCAC public-facing email the record for archived materials.
Members voted to proceed with the plan to circulate the blurb and to ensure the committee email archive is accessible. The meeting included no enforcement action—rather, it was a procedural reminder and an agreement to adopt conservative email practices to preserve compliance with OPMA.
