October 29, 1993

 

 

Mr. Richard W. Burns
P.O. Box 4581
Port Jervis, NY 12771

The staff of the Committee on Open Government is authorized to issue advisory opinions. The ensuing staff advisory opinion is based solely upon the facts presented in your correspondence.

Dear Mr. Burns:

I have received your letter of October 4 in which you requested an advisory opinion concerning the Open Meetings Law.

According to your letter, meetings of the City of Port Jervis Common Council have been conducted in certain respects in a manner inconsistent with the Open Meetings Law. You referred to events occurring at two meetings and described them as follows:

"a) August 23. Meeting opened by Mayor Worden at 7 p.m. At 7:06 p.m. he announced that 'several matters had to be discussed in Executive Session and the public meeting will resume shortly.' The following procedural steps (required by law) were not taken:

1) A motion to enter into executive session was not asked for nor made by any Council member; 2) The general area of areas of the subject or subjects to be considered were not identified; and 3) Because no motion was called for by Mayor Worden or made by any Council member, no vote (requiring a majority approval) was taken.

The Council and Mayor Worden then went into executive session, behind closed doors at 7:07 p.m. and resumed the public meeting at 7:56 p.m.

b) September 13. Meeting opened by Mayor Worden at 7 p.m. At 7:13 p.m. he announced that 'several matters required by Executive Session.' Again, for the second consecutive public meeting, the same procedural steps outlined in a.1-3 above were not followed. Executive session at 7:15 p.m.; public meeting resumed at 7:38 p.m."

In this regard, I point out that every meeting must be convened as an open meeting, and that §102(3) of the Open Meetings Law defines the phrase "executive session" to mean a portion of an open meeting during which the public may be excluded. As such, it is clear that an executive session is not separate and distinct from an open meeting, but rather that it is a part of an open meeting. Moreover, the Open Meetings Law requires that a procedure be accomplished, during an open meeting, before a public body may enter into an executive session. Specifically, §105(1) states in relevant part that:

"Upon a majority vote of its total membership, taken in an open meeting pursuant to a motion identifying the general area or areas of the subject or subjects to be considered, a public body may conduct an executive session for the below enumerated purposes only..."

As such, a motion to conduct an executive session must include reference to the subject or subjects to be discussed and it must be carried by majority vote of a public body's membership before such a session may validly be held. The ensuing provisions of §105(1) specify and limit the subjects that may appropriately be considered during an executive session. Therefore, a public body may not conduct an executive session to discuss the subject of its choice.

I would like to offer additional remarks concerning two of the grounds for entry into executive session that arise frequently.

Although it is used often, the word "personnel" appears nowhere in the Open Meetings Law. Further, although one of the grounds for entry into executive session often relates to personnel matters, the language of that provision is precise. By way of background, in its original form, §105(1)(f) of the Open Meetings Law permitted a public body to enter into an executive session to discuss:

"...the medical, financial, credit or employment history of any person or corporation, or matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal or removal of any person or corporation..."

Under the language quoted above, public bodies often convened executive sessions to discuss matters that dealt with "personnel" generally, tangentially, or in relation to policy concerns. However, the Committee consistently advised that the provision was intended largely to protect privacy and not to shield matters of policy under the guise of privacy.

To attempt to clarify the Law, the Committee recommended a series of amendments to the Open Meetings Law, several of which became effective on October 1, 1979. The recommendation made by the Committee regarding §105(1)(f) was enacted and now states that a public body may enter into an executive session to discuss:

"...the medical, financial, credit or employment history of a particular person or corporation, or matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal or removal of a particular person or corporation..." (emphasis added).

Due to the insertion of the term "particular" in section 105(1)(f), I believe that a discussion of "personnel" may be considered, in an executive session only when the subject involves a particular person or persons, and only when one or more of the topics listed in §105(1)(f) are considered.

When a discussion concerns matters of policy, such as the manner in which public money will be expended or allocated, I do not believe that §105(1)(f) could be asserted, even though the discussion related to "personnel". For example, if a discussion involves staff reductions or layoffs which can be accomplished by according to seniority, the issue in my view would involve matters of policy. Similarly, if a discussion of possible layoffs relates to positions and whether those positions should be retained or abolished, the discussion would involve the means by which public monies would be allocated. On the other hand, insofar as a discussion focuses upon a "particular person" in conjunction with that person's performance, i.e., how well or poorly he or she has performed his or her duties, an executive session could in my view be appropriately held.

Further, due to the insertion of the term "particular" in §105(1)(f), it has been advised that a motion describing the subject to be discussed as "personnel" is inadequate, and that the motion should be based upon the specific language of §105(1)(f). For instance, a proper motion might be: "I move to enter into an executive session to discuss the employment history of a particular person (or persons)". Such a motion would not in my opinion have to identify the person or persons who may be the subject of a discussion. By means of the kind of motion suggested above, members of a public body and others in attendance would have the ability to know that there is a proper basis for entry into an executive session. Absent such detail, neither the members nor others may be able to determine whether the subject may properly be considered behind closed doors.

The other ground for entry into executive session that is often cited involves "litigation" or "legal matters". In my opinion, those minimal descriptions of the subject matter to be discussed would be insufficient to comply with the Law. The provision that deals with litigation is §105(1)(d) of the Open Meetings Law, which permits a public body to enter into an executive session to discuss "proposed, pending or current litigation". In construing the language quoted above, it has been held that:

"The purpose of paragraph d is "to enable is to enable a public body to discuss pending litigation privately, without baring its strategy to its adversary through mandatory public meetings' (Matter of Concerned Citizens to Review Jefferson Val. Mall v. Town Bd. Of Town of Yorktown, 83 AD 2d 612, 613, 441 NYS 2d 292). The belief of the town's attorney that a decision adverse to petitioner 'would almost certainly lead to litigation' does not justify the conducting of this public business in an executive session. To accept this argument would be to accept the view that any public body could bar the public from its meetings simply be expressing the fear that litigation may result from actions taken therein. Such a view would be contrary to both the letter and the spirit of the exception" [Weatherwax v. Town of Stony Point, 97 AD 2d 840, 841 (1983)].

Based upon the foregoing, I believe that the exception is intended to permit a public body to discuss its litigation strategy behind closed doors, rather than issues that might eventually result in litigation. Since "legal matters" or possible litigation could be the subject or result of nearly any topic discussed by a public body, an executive session could not in my view be held to discuss an issue merely because there is a possibility of litigation, or because it involves a legal matter.

With regard to the sufficiency of a motion to discuss litigation, it has been held that:

"It is insufficient to merely regurgitate the statutory language; to wit, 'discussions regarding proposed, pending or current litigation'. This boilerplate recitation does not comply with the intent of the statute. To validly convene an executive session for discussion of proposed, pending or current litigation, the public body must identify with particularity the pending, proposed or current litigation to be discussed during the executive session" [Daily Gazette Co. , Inc. v. Town Board, Town of Cobleskill, 44 NYS 2d 44, 46 (1981), emphasis added by court].

I hope that I have been of some assistance.

Sincerely,

 

Robert J. Freeman
Executive Director

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cc: Common Council