Sunday, December 11, 2011

Response from the Open Meetings Compliance Board

Last week we received the decision from the Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board on our complaint regarding the ‘work group’ that put together the Artificial Turf report. We were not ever able to identify who attended any meetings they might have had; what was discussed, if anything; or even if the group ever met, after months and months of trying. The ‘work group’ was convened by the County Council’s Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment (T&E) Committee, yet the draft of the report that was made public had as the author in the metadata, Joe Lavorgna, a consultant to MCPS. So, who really wrote the report? No idea. Nope, still don’t know. Was there ever a work group? Did it ever meet? Nope, still don’t know.

Regarding our complaint, because the work group was not convened by a resolution, it doesn’t meet the act’s definition of a ‘public body,’ and so the Open Meetings Compliance Board found that “For the reasons stated above, we find that the work group was not a public body under the Act and that, so long as its members did not create a quorum of a different body that was subject to the Act, the Act was not violated.”Lesson: next time a ‘work group’ is convened, let’s all make sure there is a resolution for that group. This is a lesson we won’t forget.

Furthermore, although our complaint was not successful, the Board’s response is clear on this point: the government and Michael Faden in particular should not think they can bully or threaten the filer of a complaint as they did in their response. As the Board put it, “The Open Meetings Act is solely enforced by citizens.” That’s us!

Response From the MD Open Meetings Act Compliance Board 20111206234219

3 comments:

  1. The first Joint Committee on Transparency & Open Government (JCTOG) meeting is on Wednesday, December 14, 2011. All JCTOG meetings are open to the public.
    Location: House Office Building, Room 240, 6 Bladen Street, Annapolis, MD 21401.

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  2. The Joint Committee on Transparency & Open Government was authorized in June 2011. Since the General Assembly has concluded that ". . . it is in Maryland's best interest to continue to build on and improve citizen engagement in all aspects of our government . . .", the Committee is to provide continuing Legislative oversight concerning transparency & open government. The Committee is to make recommendations to increase citizen access to government resources, publications, and actions.

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  3. From the Daily Record, on Oct 6, 2011, at http://thedailyrecord.com/2011/10/06/open-government-committee-named-in-maryland/:

    Sen. Bill Ferguson, D-Baltimore, and House Majority Leader Kumar Barve, D-Montgomery, will co-chair the panel.

    The committee will make recommendations on how to improve transparency to the Legislature.

    Ten other lawmakers have been appointed to the committee.

    They include Sens. Joseph Getty, R-Carroll, J.B. Jennings, R-Baltimore County, Nancy King, D-Montgomery, Kathy Klausmeier, D-Baltimore County, and Nathaniel McFadden, D-Baltimore. The panel also includes Delegates Talmadge Branch, D-Baltimore, Robert Costa, R-Anne Arundel, Wade Kach, R-Baltimore County, Dan Morhaim, D-Baltimore County and Delegate Heather Mizeur, D-Montgomery.

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