Politics & Government

Five Things You Need To Know Today (The Hy-Five)

About the Maryland Open Meetings Act.

It’s Monday, Hyattsville! That means a City Council meeting. Here are five things you need to know today about the Maryland Open Meetings Act:

 

1. The most recent version of the Open Meetings Act manual is from June 2010. You can read it at Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler’s website.

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2. In general, if City Council is meeting about an issue that is covered by the Open Meetings Act they have to meet in open session. You can find out what those issues are in chapter 2 of the Open Meetings Act Manual.

3. It’s not required by law that City Clerk Douglas Barber publish a meeting agenda before the meeting. But thankfully, he does! You can read them online at hyattsville.org. You can also take a look at the council members’ informational packets on the same webpage.

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4. The Open Meeting Compliance Board said that about five weeks between a meeting and the disclosure of the recorded written minutes is a reasonable preparation time. But, you can get a DVD of the meeting by contacting Barber at City Hall.

5. When the has closed a meeting to discuss the investment of public funds or the marketing of public securities the minutes and any tape recording of that portion of a closed session must be made available to the public after the transactions have occurred. However, most closed meeting minutes don’t allow the public to see what was discussed.

 


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