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City attorney warns council to avoid 'walking quorums' in Open Meetings Act briefing
Summary
An attorney briefing reminded Tomball council members that serial communications among members that reach a quorum can violate the Texas Open Meetings Act; the presenter recommended best practices such as asking whether other members have been contacted before engaging in an exchange.
City attorney Joseph Burke briefed council on the Texas Open Meetings Act and the practical risk of a "walking quorum," reminding members that a series of communications could create an unlawful quorum even if no single meeting was called. "If members of council in numbers less than a quorum engage in a series of communications... that's when it becomes an issue," he said, explaining the OMA's three‑member threshold for city councils and recommending that members avoid multi‑party online threads and social‑media exchanges that could aggregate into a quorum.
Burke and staff discussed practical examples including email threads, private messages and public social posts where multiple council members participate; he noted that the Office of the Attorney General and Texas Municipal League guidance both advise caution. The presentation also covered the penalties and remedies for violations, and staff urged members to route public‑information inquiries through city staff to avoid inadvertent serial deliberations.
