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December 12, 2000
Ms. Nancy Lamb
Damascus, VA
The staff of the Freedom of
Information Advisory Council is authorized to issue advisory
opinions. The ensuing staff advisory opinion is based solely upon
the information presented in your e-mail of November 9, 2000.
Dear Ms. Lamb:
Thank you for contacting the Virginia Freedom of Information
Advisory Council. I apologize for not being able to respond in time
for the meeting in question. This small office receives a volume of
complaints via phone, letter and computer, and conducted numerous
educational sessions out of the office in the beginning of
November. Nonetheless, I hope that this response will provide
guidance and assistance if similar questions and circumstances
arise at future meetings.
As a member of a town council, you have inquired about the
notice requirements of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA). Specifically, you indicate that a meeting was called with
only one working day's notice to discuss a decision to cash a
certificate of deposit made at a recent regularly scheduled town
council meeting, and to consider taking out a bank loan
instead.
Ordinarily, FOIA requires notice of at least three working days
for a meeting of a public body. However, subsection D of §
2.1-343 provides different notice provisions for special or
emergency meetings. This meeting does not appear to be an
emergency, which FOIA defines as an unforeseen circumstance
rendering the notice required by this chapter impossible or
impracticable and which circumstances require immediate action.
Nothing in the facts indicates that the decision to take out a loan
required immediate action. No definition is offered for a special
meeting. Logically, a special meeting would be a gathering other
than a regular meeting or an emergency meeting. Because you
indicate that the meeting in question was called only to reconsider
an item from a recent regular meeting, it appears to be a special
meeting.
Subsection D of § 2.1-343 requires that notice for special
meetings only be reasonable under the circumstances, and be
given contemporaneously with the notice provided to the members of
the public body. The question of whether or not it was reasonable
to call this special meeting with only one working day's notice is
a question for the courts, and not for this office. Assuming that
the notice was reasonable under the circumstances, the facts
indicate that the public was notified contemporaneously by posting
a notice at the town hall, also assuming that this is the location
where notices for town council meetings are normally posted.
Should a similar situation arise again in the future, this
office would not necessarily recommend refusing to attend. A better
solution might be to attend, but let your concerns be heard on the
record in the minutes of the meeting.
Again, thank you for contacting this office. I hope that I have
been of assistance.
Sincerely,
Maria J.K. Everett
Executive Director
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