[EQAB-list] Open Meetings

[Pat Imperato]

Thanks Joe.? I agree with your analysis.

Another point.? EQAB is an advisory committee to a governing body but not a governing body itself.?? I am all for transparent government and support the Sunshine Act and want to encourage public participation in the advice we provide.? Perhaps we could invite the city solicitor to one of our meetings to advise us on the particulars of when we need to be "public" in our deliberations and methodologies.? 


Pat Imperato
131 Whippoorwill Dr.
Oak Ridge, TN 37830

865-272-3451 h
610-888-0456 c


-----Original Message-----
From: GatorWoodPile at comcast.net
To: Fred L Stephens <freds7 at dancingcreek.com>; eqab-list at discoveret.org
Sent: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 8:40 pm
Subject: Re: [EQAB-list] Open Meetings



I agree.  In addition to the Legal Department Memorandum (08-04), I have also 
reviewed the Tennessee Open Meetings Act (referenced in the subject memo) and 
both are silent on email communication (electronic communication refers to 
attending a scheduled public meeting telephonically in order to participate and 
vote).  In addition, both of these documents make it very clear that what is 
prohibited are private "deliberations and discussions" between members of a 
governing body leading to a decision on a matter coming before body at a public 
meeting.  

My review of previous emails is that we have be discussing methodologies to be 
considered for compiling and analyzing data in order to have sufficient 
information available to our membership to begin the deliberation process.   In 
my opinion, no deliberations have as yet occurred.

Joe

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: Fred L Stephens <freds7 at dancingcreek.com> 

> I have read the open meetings document provided earlier this 
> afternoon. I don't see that we are close to any violations. However, 
> a thorough reading is good for keeping mindful of the nuances of the 
> requirements and a reminder to make use of this open list server. We 
> could also invite citizens to become "read only" members of this 
> email list via the city web pages regarding EQAB. 
> 
> _______________________________________________ 
> EQAB-list mailing list 
> EQAB-list at discoveret.org 
> http://www.discoveret.org/mailman/listinfo/eqab-list 



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