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March 16, 2001
Mr. Robert T. Fisk
Marshall, 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 telephone conversation of
February 14, 2001.
Dear Mr. Fisk:
You have asked whether a public body needs to give three working
days' notice for a change in the location of a meeting for which
notice has already been given under the Virginia Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA). You also ask whether a public body must
update changes to a meeting notice posted on the Internet. You
indicate that on Friday, February 9, you found a notice for a
school board meeting scheduled for Monday, February 12 posted on
the Internet. When you arrived at the meeting at the stated time
and location, no one was there. You then proceeded to the school
board offices, where you found a note on the door indicating that
the location of the meeting had been changed.
You first ask how many days prior notice a public body must give
for a change in location of a meeting for which notice has already
been given. Subsection C of § 2.1-343 of the Code of Virginia
requires a public body to give notice of the date, time, and
location of its meetings ... posted at least three working days
prior to the meeting. Because notice of the location of the
meeting must be given at least three working days in advance of the
meeting, it follows that a change in location must also be posted
at least three working days in advance.
You next ask if changes to the time, date, or location of a
meeting must be updated on the Internet, if the public body posts
notice of its meetings in this manner. Subsection C of §
2.1-343 requires meeting notices to be posted in a prominent
public location at which notices are regularly posted and in the
office of the clerk of the public body, and encourages
publication of notices by electronic means. Any changes to the
original notice would need to be updated everywhere the original
notice was posted. Thus, if a public body posts a notice
electronically on the Internet, it would need to update that notice
with any changes just as it would need to update the notice at the
clerk's office and anywhere else it was physically posted. As
discussed in response to your previous question, notice of the
changes in the location, date or time of the meeting must be made
at least three working days prior to the scheduled meeting.
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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