February 22, 1996

 

 

Mr. Dennis J. Stachera
343 Walnut Street
Lockport, NY 14094

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

Dear Mr. Stachera:

I have received your letter of January 27 in which you raised questions concerning the application of the Open Meetings Law.

According to your letter, near the end of your term as Alderman in the City of Lockport, which expired on December 31, you sponsored a resolution to eliminate a position that had not been filled for approximately a year and which was changed to a different position at the request of the Superintendent of the Highway and Parks Department. The committee that you chaired passed the resolution, and the 1996 budget, which had already been adopted, was amended in order to allocate additional funds for a higher paying position. At a meeting held on January 24, it was suggested that the resolution was causing problems, and a motion for entry into executive session to discuss the matter was made and carried.

Although you stood in the hallway during the executive session, you indicated that you could "clearly hear" the discussion. Consequently, you spoke to the Corporation Counsel and expressed the view that the matters under discussion could not validly be considered in an executive session. In response, you wrote that he said that "he heard statements that were definitely of executive session nature". Notwithstanding the foregoing, you stated that "you can't hold an executive session just in case they pop up with sensitive or personal items that should be discussed in private", that "a blanket executive session because they were uncomfortable with the individual or group present was not the intent of executive sessions", and that an executive session could not be held to discuss "funding and transfer of funds" or the "possibility of layoffs as an alternative if funds couldn't be found."

In conjunction with preceding description of the facts, you asked whether an executive session may "be called because someone 'may' say something personal or of a sensitive nature", and whether "personnel meetings automatically [are] closed from the public".

From my perspective, based on the language of the Open Meetings Law, a public body cannot conduct an executive session merely because an issue may be sensitive; on the contrary, the ability to conduct an executive session is limited. In this regard, I offer the following comments.

First, as a general matter, the Open Meetings Law is based upon a presumption of openness. Stated differently, meetings of public bodies must be conducted open to the public, unless there is a basis for entry into executive session. Moreover, the 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 the motion must be carried by majority vote of a public body's total 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.

Second, although it is used frequently, the term "personnel" appears nowhere in the Open Meetings Law. Although one of the grounds for entry into executive session often relates to personnel matters, from my perspective, the term is overused and is frequently cited in a manner that is misleading or causes unnecessary confusion. To be sure, some issues involving "personnel" may be properly considered in an executive session; others, in my view, cannot. Further, certain matters that have nothing to do with personnel may be discussed in private under the provision that is ordinarily cited to discuss personnel.

The language of the so-called "personnel" exception, §105(1)(f) of the Open Meetings Law, is limited and precise. In terms of legislative history, as originally enacted, the provision in question 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 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 §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 at least one of the topics listed in §105(1)(f) is 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 relates to "personnel". For example, if a discussion involves staff reductions or layoffs due to budgetary concerns, the issue in my view would involve matters of policy. Similarly, if a discussion of possible layoff 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. In neither case in such circumstances would the focus involve a "particular person" and how well or poorly an individual has performed his or her duties. To reiterate, in order to enter into an executive session pursuant to §105(1)(f), I believe that the discussion must focus on a particular person (or persons) in relation to a topic listed in that provision. As stated judicially, "it would seem that under the statute matters related to personnel generally or to personnel policy should be discussed in public for such matters do not deal with any particular person" (Doolittle v. Board of Education, Supreme Court, Chemumg County, October 20, 1981). Moreover, in the only decision of which I am aware that dealt specifically with the discussion of layoffs, a decision rendered prior to the enactment of the amendment discussed earlier and the renumbering of the Open Meetings Law, it was stated that:

"The court agrees with petitioner's contention that personnel lay-offs are primarily budgetary matters and as such are not among the specifically enumerated personnel subjects set forth in Subdiv. 1.f. of [section] 100, for which the Legislature has authorized closed 'executive sessions'. Therefore, the court declares that budgetary lay-offs are not personnel matters within the intention of Subdiv. 1.f. of [section] 100 and that the November 16, 1978 closed-door session was in violation of the Open Meetings Law" (Orange County Publications v. The City of Middletown, Supreme Court, Orange County, December 6, 1978).

Based upon the specific language of the Open Meetings Law and its judicial interpretation, subject to the qualifications described in the preceding commentary, I do not believe that discussions relating to budgetary matters, such as the funding or reduction of positions, could appropriately be discussed during an executive session. In my view, only to the extent that an issue focuses on a "particular person" in conjunction with one or more of the topics appearing in §105(1)(f) could an executive session properly have been held in the context of the issues that you raised.

Lastly, it has been advised that a motion describing the subject to be discussed as "personnel" or "specific personnel matters" 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.

It is noted that the Appellate Division, Second Department, recently confirmed the advice rendered by this office. In discussing §105(1)(f) in relation to a matter involving the establishment and functions of a position, the Court stated that:

"...the public body must identify the subject matter to be discussed (See, Public Officers Law § 105 [1]), and it is apparent that this must be accomplished with some degree of particularity, i.e., merely reciting the statutory language is insufficient (see, Daily Gazette Co. v Town Bd., Town of Cobleskill, 111 Misc 2d 303, 304-305). Additionally, the topics discussed during the executive session must remain within the exceptions enumerated in the statute (see generally, Matter of Plattsburgh Publ. Co., Div. of Ottaway Newspapers v City of Plattsburgh, 185 AD2d §18), and these exceptions, in turn, 'must be narrowly scrutinized, lest the article's clear mandate be thwarted by thinly veiled references to the areas delineated thereunder' (Weatherwax v Town of Stony Point, 97 AD2d 840, 841, quoting Daily Gazette Co. v Town Bd., Town of Cobleskill, supra, at 304; see, Matter of Orange County Publs., Div. of Ottaway Newspapers v County of Orange, 120 AD2d 596, lv dismissed 68 NY 2d 807).

"Applying these principles to the matter before us, it is apparent that the Board's stated purpose for entering into executive session, to wit, the discussion of a 'personnel issue', does not satisfy the requirements of Public Officers Law § 105 (1) (f). The statute itself requires, with respect to personnel matters, that the discussion involve the 'employment history of a particular person" (id. [emphasis supplied]). Although this does not mandate that the individual in question be identified by name, it does require that any motion to enter into executive session describe with some detail the nature of the proposed discussion (see, State Comm on Open Govt Adv Opn dated Apr. 6, 1993), and we reject respondents' assertion that the Board's reference to a 'personnel issue' is the functional equivalent of identifying 'a particular person'" [Gordon v. Village of Monticello, 620 NY 2d 573, 575; AD 2d ___ (December 29, 1994)].

In an effort to enhance compliance with and understanding of the Open Meetings Law, a copy of this opinion will be forwarded to the City Council.

I hope that I have been of some assistance.

Sincerely,

 

Robert J. Freeman
Executive Director

RJF:pb

cc: City Council