Inspection of Public Records Act
The Law
Any meetings at which the discussion or adoption of any proposed resolution, rule, regulation or formal action occurs and at which a majority or quorum of the body is in attendance, and any closed meetings, shall be held only after reasonable notice to the public. The affected body shall determine at least annually in a public meeting what notice for a public meeting is reasonable when applied to that body. That notice shall include broadcast stations licensed by the federal communications commission and newspapers of general circulation that have provided a written request for such notice.
Commentary
This Subsection requires that reasonable notice be given of public meetings at which proposed rules, regulations, resolutions or formal action will be discussed or adopted. In effect, this means a public body must give notice of all public meetings of a quorum of the public body. The notice must include licensed broadcast stations and newspapers of general circulation that have made a written request for notice of the public body’s meetings.
Example 19:
The governing body of an irrigation district wishes to call a special meeting to discuss an emergency situation resulting from flood damage. The action of simply calling a meeting is not formal action for purposes of the notice provisions of the Act, since requiring notice of a meeting to call a meeting is obviously impractical. This might be overcome by a policy of the public body authorizing the chairman or president to call such meetings as he or she deems necessary.
Commentary
This Subsection also requires each public body to determine its notice procedures at least once a year in a public meeting. Accordingly, each public body should adopt an annual resolution or other announcement at a regularly scheduled open meeting stating its procedure for giving notice of meetings. The Act does not impose any specific maximum or minimum requirements, and what constitutes reasonable notice may vary according to the type of meeting or public body. In general, however, a reasonable notice must adequately, accurately, and sufficiently in advance inform the public of the meeting’s time, place and date, and should be published or posted in a place and manner accessible to the public, such as a central location at the public body’s main office where the public is allowed, as well as on a web site if the public entity has one
Example 20:
The mayor of the Village of Las Ropas calls a special meeting of the Board of Trustees. The public meeting notice states that the meeting will be held the following Monday at 8:30 a.m. in the Village Hall. At 4:30 p.m. on the Friday preceding the meeting, the meeting notice is posted on the door of the Village Clerk’s office in the Village Hall. The Village Hall closes at 5:00 p.m. on weekdays and is not open at all on weekends. The meeting notice is not reasonable for purposes of the Act because members of the public interested in attending the meeting have no meaningful opportunity to see the notice before the meeting.
Commentary
In most circumstances, the Attorney General will consider reasonable a notice procedure providing ten days advance notice for regular meetings, three days prior notice for special meetings and twenty-four hours advance notice for emergency meetings. If a public body meets regularly on a specific date, time and place, e.g., the second Wednesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. at the city auditorium, the public body need not provide ten days advance notice for each individual meeting as long as the public body sets forth the requisite information in the public body’s notice resolution and makes the resolution available to the public.
Regardless of whether a meeting is a regular, special or emergency meeting, the Act requires the public body to provide notice that was given as far in advance as reasonably possible under the circumstances involved. For example, an “emergency meeting” called with little or no notice must involve issues that could not have been anticipated and which, if not addressed immediately by the public body, will threaten the health, safety or property of its citizens, or likely result in substantial financial loss to the public body.
Example 21:
With only one hour’s advance notice, a mayor calls an “emergency meeting” of the town’s governing board to discuss the purchase of a building. The building’s owner has indicated that unless the town council decides to purchase the building in twenty-four hours, he will offer it to someone else. While the town has no particular need for the building, the mayor thinks it is a good deal. The town’s open meetings resolution requires ten days notice for regular meetings, three days notice for special meetings, and twenty-four hours notice, if possible, for emergency meetings. The notice given for the meeting is unreasonable because the circumstances justifying an emergency meeting are not
present.
Commentary
The next example illustrates a resolution containing notice procedures that generally will be considered reasonable. (NOTE: Paragraph 7 of the model resolution is intended to comply with the requirements of the federal Americans With Disabilities Act (“ADA”). It is not required by the Open Meetings Act, but we recommend that public bodies subject to the ADA include such a notice in their notice resolutions.)
Example 22:
[NAME OF COMMISSION, BOARD OR AGENCY] RESOLUTION NO.
WHEREAS, THE met in regular session at on , 20 , at , a.m./p.m., as required by law; and
WHEREAS, Section 10-15-1(B) of the Open Meetings Act (NMSA 1978, Sections 10-15-1 to -4) states that, except as may be otherwise provided in the Constitution or the provisions of the Open Meetings Act, all meetings of a quorum of members of any board, council, commission, administrative adjudicatory body or other policymaking body of any state or local public agency held for the purpose of formulating public policy, discussing public business or for the purpose of taking any action within the authority of or the delegated authority of such body, are declared to be public meetings open to the public at all times; and
WHEREAS, any meetings subject to the Open Meetings Act at which the discussion or adoption of any proposed resolution, rule, regulation or formal action occurs shall be held only after reasonable notice to the public; and
WHEREAS, Section 10-15-1(D) of the Open Meetings Act requires the to determine annually what constitutes reasonable notice of its public meetings;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by that:
1. All meetings shall be held at at , a.m./p.m., or as indicated in the meeting notice.
2. Unless otherwise specified, regular meetings shall be held each month on . The agenda will be available at least seventy-two hours prior to the meeting from , whose office is located in , New Mexico. The agenda will also be posted at the offices of and on the ’s website at www. .
3. Notice of regular meetings other than those described in Paragraph 2 will be given ten days in advance of the meeting date. The notice will include a copy of the agenda or information on how a copy of the agenda may be obtained. If not included in the notice, the agenda will be available at least seventy-two hours before the meeting and posted on the ’s website at www. .
4. Special meetings may be called by the Chairman or a majority of the members upon three days notice. The notice for a special meeting shall include an agenda for the meeting or information on how a copy of the agenda may be obtained a copy of the agenda. The agenda will be available at least seventy- two hours before the meeting and posted on the ’s website at www. .
5. Emergency meetings will be called only under unforeseen circumstances that demand immediate action to protect the health, safety and property of citizens or to protect the public body from substantial financial loss. The will avoid emergency meetings whenever possible. Emergency meetings may be called by the Chairman or a majority of the members with twenty-four hours prior notice, unless threat of personal injury or property damage requires less notice. The notice for all emergency meetings shall include an agenda for the meeting or information on how the public may obtain a copy of the agenda. Within ten days of taking action on an emergency matter, the will notify the Attorney General’s Office.
6. For the purposes of regular meetings described in Paragraph 3 of this resolution, notice requirements are met if notice of the date, time, place and agenda is placed in newspapers of general circulation in the state and posted in the following locations: . Copies of the written notice shall also be mailed to those broadcast stations licensed by the Federal Communications Commission and newspapers of general circulation that have made a written request for notice of public meetings.
7. For the purposes of special meetings and emergency meetings described in Paragraphs 4 and 5, notice requirements are met if notice of the date, time, place and agenda is provided by telephone to newspapers of general circulation in the state and posted in the offices of . Telephone notice also shall be given to those broadcast stations licensed by the Federal Communications Commission and newspapers of general circulation that have made a written request for notice of public meetings.
8. In addition to the information specified above, all notices shall include the following language:
If you are an individual with a disability who is in need of a reader, amplifier, qualified sign language interpreter, or any other form of auxiliary aid or service to attend or participate in the hearing or meeting, please contact ________________ at _______________ at least one (1) week prior to the meeting or as soon as possible. Public documents, including the agenda and minutes, can be provided in various accessible formats. Please contact ______________ at _____________ if a summary or other type of accessible format is needed.
9. The _________________________ may close a meeting to the public only if the subject matter of such discussion or action is excepted from the open meeting requirement under Section 10-15-1(H) of the Open Meetings Act.
(a) If any meeting is closed during an open meeting, such closure shall be approved by a majority vote of a quorum of the _______________ taken during the open meeting. The authority for the closed meeting and the subjects to be discussed shall be stated with reasonable specificity in the motion to close and the vote of each individual member on the motion to close shall be recorded in the minutes. Only those subjects specified in the motion may be discussed in the closed meeting.
(b) If a closed meeting is conducted when the__________________ is not in an open meeting, the closed meeting shall not be held until public notice, appropriate under the circumstances, stating the specific provision of law authorizing the closed meeting and the subjects to be discussed with reasonable specificity, is given to the members and to the general public.
(c) Following completion of any closed meeting, the minutes of the open meeting that was closed, or the minutes of the next open meeting if the closed meeting was separately scheduled, shall state whether the matters discussed in the closed meeting were limited only to those specified in the motion or notice for closure.
(d) Except as provided in Section 10-15-1(H) of the Open Meetings Act, any action taken as a result of discussions in a closed meeting shall be made by vote of the ______________ in an open public meeting. Passed by the ____________________ this ___ day of _________, 20__.
Commentary
As indicated in the model notice resolution set forth above in Example 22, meeting notices must include specified information about agendas and all meetings, including closed meetings, require advance notice to the public.The specific provisions of the agenda requirements and procedures for closing meetings will be discussed below.