In Part 3, we talked about the definitions of what’s important when trying to work within the RSA 91-A strictures – WHO can you demand something from, WHAT can you demand, and “Body this and Body that”. Not in tremendous detail but enough to get started with. Now, we start to get in on “Meetings” – which one do Politicians MUST allow you to attend and which ones Politicians CAN lock you out of. To the latter, there are some decent reasons why but too often it is abused. That is called a “Non-Public” meeting and that will be the subject of the next post.
This post will address what “Open Meetings” are and why they are important to attend (or if you can’t, there’s more on the notes/recordings that must be kept so that any actions taken during that meeting can be reviewed). These Open Meetings SHOULD be the vast majority of the meetings of interest. Again, going back to the NH Constitution:
[Art.] 8. [Accountability of Magistrates and Officers; Public’s Right to Know.] All power residing originally in, and being derived from, the people, all the magistrates and officers of government are their substitutes and agents, and at all times accountable to them. Government, therefore, should be open, accessible, accountable and responsive. To that end, the public’s right of access to governmental proceedings and records shall not be unreasonably restricted. The public also has a right to an orderly, lawful, and accountable government.
There may be those that would argue with me but I would say that this puts people FIRST, we citizens, over the actions of the Government that is to serve us. That really is the purpose of Government – to protect our Liberties and Freedoms. In doing so, those that we elect and hire, serve us and do the services that we have told Government to do for us and on our behalf.
I note the irony that this law is needed – as those in Government have decided to flip that intended relationship upside down. So, WHAT is a meeting? And what ISN’T a meeting? Reformatted and emphasis mine. Also, I am going to put my remarks “in line” with the language from the Law; consider this a bit of a “fisking”.
A meeting IS:
91-A:2 Meetings Open to Public. –
I. For the purpose of this chapter, a ” meeting ” means the convening of a quorum of the membership of a public body, as defined in RSA 91-A:1-a, VI, or the majority of the members of such public body if the rules of that body define “quorum” as more than a majority of its members, whether in person, by means of telephone or electronic communication, or in any other manner such that all participating members are able to communicate with each other contemporaneously, subject to the provisions set forth in RSA 91-A:2, III, for the purpose of discussing or acting upon a matter or matters over which the public body has supervision, control, jurisdiction, or advisory power.
So, what is a Public Body in this sense? The “WHO or WHAT” Examples: A City Council, town Selectboard, a School Board, a Water District, Library of Trustees, Supervisors of the Checklist, the NH House, the NH Senate, the NH Board of Education, a Budget Committee (advisory or SB2) – and any subcommittees, sub-boards, sub-commissions under those.
So that last bit that is bolded: you either have elected representatives, employees, or a mix gathered together to do things. That could be either talking about issues, assigning people to get things done, signing contracts or other documents – and taking votes. Votes, especially by roll call, are most important to US to whom these people are to be accountable. A Public Body can vote by raising their hands or by a voice vote (“Yea” or “Nay”) but it’s harder to track who is voting what. IF AT ALL POSSIBLE, in any setting, demand that a roll call be done so that you know where the members stand on an issue – but I’m getting ahead of myself. In short, however, these are the “governmental units” that make decisions and assign people to “git’r done”.
HOPEFULLY, you have been to such meetings. Most are similar though the “purpose” of each group (“Public Body”) is different – Selectmen manage a town, School Board has oversight over a school district, and so forth. If not, start. You NEVER want to take things for granted and make no mistake:
These people are making decisions that will affect you and your family – and you don’t know what they are doing?
We ARE supposed to be an informed electorate and particpitory system – your responsibility is to get involved EVEN if it is just one part of Government. Then get another family member or friend to do another one. But that’s just me.
And this part is important and speaks to times that just those Public Body members (Trustees of the Cemeteries, Board of Firemen) can meet by themselves and defines, in part, what a meeting ISN’T:
A chance, social, or other encounter not convened for the purpose of discussing or acting upon such matters shall not constitute a meeting if no decisions are made regarding such matters.
Small towns are just that – small. Just because all the Selectmen get invited to a Party, or the Budget Committee asked to address the Rotary, doesn’t automatically mean a meeting is happening or should be considered to be a meeting by others. If Steve, John, and Ringo pass each other on the street and say hi, that’s not a meeting. However, IF they start talking shop – that’s a problem!
And here are some of the “purposes” that do NOT fall under an “Open Meeting”. In fact, there is a whole set of exceptions that are allowable to make a meeting a “Non-public meeting” – which will be another post.
“Meeting” shall also not include:
(a) Strategy or negotiations with respect to collective bargaining;
(b) Consultation with legal counsel;
(c) A caucus consisting of elected members of a public body of the same political party who were elected on a partisan basis at a state general election or elected on a partisan basis by a town or city which has adopted a partisan ballot system pursuant to RSA 669:12 or RSA 44:2; or
(d) Circulation of draft documents which, when finalized, are intended only to formalize decisions previously made in a meeting; provided, that nothing in this subparagraph shall be construed to alter or affect the application of any other section of RSA 91-A to such documents or related communications.
The State, a town, or any other subdivision of the State that has to come to terms with one or more unions? That’s (A).
All kinds of “subdivisions of the State” also get sued or have to sue others. There may be legal questions that come up either because the folks in charge have no idea where to look, have some half-baked ideas of what SHOULD happen (but fortunately, mostly, realized they’re half-baked) or that an RSA or regulation isn’t clear. That’s (B).
Of COURSE, the Republican / Democrat / Libertarians have a carve-out all their own – they have put themselves above the law simply to talk political talk and make political decisions. Sometimes, those decisions are about new laws that will affect YOU and your family. Note the word “partisan” – which means that politicians are branded with an R, D, L, I, S, G, or some other letter denoting their political Party affiliation. The rest of NH, that have “non-partisan” officially races do not have this “privilege”. That’s (C).
Sidenote: c’mon, does ANYONE believe that I ran for office in my town did it as a Democrat or Socialist? Of COURSE we all know, pretty much, who belongs to which party. What a charade!
And lastly is the “passing out of the packets” – all the docs that get created, given to, or have to be signed to become legal. Just as long as there isn’t any other jawboning going on. That’s (D).
And that’s just the first part!
Next post will take on Clause II et al.
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