OML-AO-4295

                                                                        December 7, 2006


E-MAIL

 TO: 

 FROM:           Robert J. Freeman, Executive Director

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

            I have received your letter in which you referred to the designation of subcommittees of the Town of Hurley’s Conservation Advisory Council and asked whether it would be “okay for two or three of us to meet in someone’s house as a subcommittee just to discuss thing or do we have to publicly announce these meetings and have them in the very overcrowded Town Hall?”

            In this regard, first, a conservation advisory council is a creation of law, §239-x of the General Municipal Law; it clearly performs governmental functions for a municipality and constitutes a “public body” subject to the Open Meetings Law. When a committee or subcommittee consists solely of members of a public body, such as the Council, I believe that the Open Meetings Law is applicable.


             When that statute went into effect in 1977, questions consistently arose with respect to the status of committees, subcommittees and similar bodies that had no capacity to take final action, but rather merely the authority to advise. Those questions arose due to the definition of "public body" as it appeared in the Open Meetings Law as it was originally enacted. Perhaps the leading case on the subject also involved a situation in which a governing body, a school board, designated committees consisting of less than a majority of the total membership of the board. In Daily Gazette Co., Inc. v. North Colonie Board of Education [67 AD 2d 803 (1978)], it was held that those advisory committees, which had no capacity to take final action, fell outside the scope of the definition of "public body".

            Nevertheless, prior to its passage, the bill that became the Open Meetings Law was debated on the floor of the Assembly. During that debate, questions were raised regarding the status of "committees, subcommittees and other subgroups." In response to those questions, the sponsor stated that it was his intent that such entities be included within the scope of the definition of "public body" (see Transcript of Assembly proceedings, May 20, 1976, pp. 6268-6270).

            Due to the determination rendered in Daily Gazette, supra, which was in apparent conflict with the stated intent of the sponsor of the legislation, a series of amendments to the Open Meetings Law were enacted in 1979 and became effective on October 1 of that year. Among the changes was a redefinition of the term "public body". "Public body" is now defined in §102(2) to include: 

"...any entity for which a quorum is required in order to conduct public business and which consists of two or more members, performing a governmental function for the state or for an agency or department thereof, or for a public corporation as defined in section sixty-six of the general construction law, or committee or subcommittee or other similar body of such public body."

            Although the original definition made reference to entities that "transact" public business, the current definition makes reference to entities that "conduct" public business. Moreover, the definition makes specific reference to "committees, subcommittees and similar bodies" of a public body.

            In view of the amendments to the definition of "public body", we believe that any entity consisting of two or more members of a public body, such as a committee or subcommittee consisting of members of the Council, would fall within the requirements of the Open Meetings Law, assuming that a committee discusses or conducts public business collectively as a body [see Syracuse United Neighbors v. City of Syracuse, 80 AD 2d 984 (1981)]. Further, as a general matter, a quorum consists of a majority of the total membership of a body (see General Construction Law, §41). For example, in the case of a committee consisting of three, its quorum would be two.

            When a committee is subject to the Open Meetings Law, it has the same obligations regarding notice, openness, and the taking of minutes, for example, as well as the same authority to conduct executive sessions, as a governing body [see Glens Falls Newspapers, Inc. v. Solid Waste and Recycling Committee of the Warren County Board of Supervisors, 195 AD 2d 898 (1993)].

            Second, the Open Meetings Law does not specify where a public body must conduct its meetings. However, the Law does provide direction concerning the site of meetings. Section 103(b) of the Law states that: 

“Public bodies shall make or cause to be made all reasonable efforts to ensure that meetings are held in facilities that permit barrier-free physical access to the physically handicapped, as defined in subdivision five of section fifty of the public buildings law.”

           Based upon the language quoted above, the Open Meetings Law, in my opinion, imposes no obligation upon a public body to construct a new facility or to renovate an existing facility to permit barrier-free access to physically handicapped persons. However, I believe that the law does impose a responsibility upon a public body to make “all reasonable efforts” to ensure that meetings are held in facilities that permit barrier-free access to physically handicapped persons. Therefore, if, for example, the Board has the capacity to hold its meetings in a first floor room that is accessible to handicapped persons rather than a second floor room, I believe that the meetings should be held in the room that is most likely to accommodate the needs of people with handicapping conditions.

            From my perspective, a member’s home would generally not be an appropriate location for a meeting of a public body. Aside from the issue of barrier-free access to physically handicapped persons, a home is not a public facility, and many have suggested that entry into a home to attend a meeting engenders a sense of intrusion or intimidation. In my view, every law, including the Open Meetings Law, should be implemented in a manner that gives effect to its intent. Holding a meeting at a member’s home would, in my opinion, be unreasonable and inconsistent with the intent of the law.

            I hope that the foregoing serves to clarify your understanding and that I have been of assistance.


RJF:tt