Town Council gets briefing on open government laws

When it comes abiding by the state’s open government laws, elected officials should imagine they have a blinking tattoo on their forehead, Maria Everett, director of the Virginia Freedom of Information Council told Culpeper Town Council at a special meeting Monday.

“You are always on a public stage — that’s just the way it goes,” she said.

Want to “talk shop” with a few fellow councilmen at church?

“Beep! Beep! Beep!” she said, describing the tattoo lighting up in warning.

Want to go out with a few fellow council members for drinks after a meeting to talk about the town’s business?

“Beep! Beep! Beep!” Everett said, indicating another no-no under the Freedom of Information Act.

“When you are elected, there is no hiding place in this law.”

The FOI Council Director offered a lively presentation on the “down and dirty” of open meetings and records laws to the four councilmen in attendance: Mayor Pranas Rimeikis, Vice Mayor Billy Yowell, and councilmen Jim Risner and Bobby Ryan.

“We are not the FOIA police,” Everett said. “We have no enforcement authority.”

It is helpful, however, to know where the lines are drawn in terms of keeping government open the public, she said.

That is the purpose of FOIA, Everett added, “To afford every citizen every opportunity to witness the operation of government.”

She offered the following tips then to Town Council on what FOIA really means:

* Any meeting of three or more elected officials talking about government business constitutes a meeting subject to FOIA laws.
* Notice of any such meeting must be given three days prior, it must be open to the public and minutes must be taken.
* FOIA also applies to e-mail correspondence occurring in real time between elected officials. (“Yikes, yikes,” said Everett, on this topic.) If such electronic correspondence relates to public business and three or more elected officials are communicating about it at the same time, FOIA laws apply. “Never ever use, ‘reply to all’ — that what’s starts the discussion strain,” Everett said.
* E-mails between elected officials create a public record that can be requested under open record laws.
* The only time local elected officials can hold a meeting by e-mail is when the governor has declared a state of emergency.
* The following FOIA rules apply to closed session meetings: make a motion stating the purpose of the closed session (personnel, litigation, etc.), the subject or general topic of what will be discussed (town manager evaluation, boundary line adjustment, etc.) and the applicable state code section for closed sessions: 2.2-3711.
* Any vote or action taken in closed session must be announced in open session.
* A gathering of hired government staff does not constitute a public meeting.

However, a meeting of three or more elected officials, even in the grocery store, in which public business is discussed lights up the FOIA “tattoo,” Everett said.

“Unless you’re talking produce, it’s a meeting.”

Otherwise, “Beep! Beep! Beep! When in doubt, just give notice,” Everett said.

Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or abrophy@starexponent.com.