Attorney General's Opinion 1985-86 #332

VIRGINIA FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT. COMMITTEES OF PUBLIC BODIES SUBJECT TO ACT ALSO SUBJECT TO ACT'S OPEN MEETING REQUIREMENT AND MAY CONDUCT CLOSED MEETINGS PURSUANT TO §2.1-344.

December 20, 1985

The Honorable Bruce D. Jones, Jr.
County Attorney for Accomack County

85-86 332

You ask whether a special meeting of the Accomack County Board of Supervisors (the "Board") under the following circumstances was legal. You state that the special meeting was called by two board members and scheduled for November 7, 1985, and that an agenda and notice were sent to all board members. One of the scheduled agenda items was the discussion of pending litigation matters, to be conducted in executive session. Litigation involving the county was scheduled for trial on November 20. On November 7, only four of nine board members appeared for this special meeting. The Board's chairman appointed a temporary committee consisting of the four board members present to hear the county attorney and other county officials involved in the litigation. The committee met in executive session to discuss the pending litigation. No decisions were made, nor were votes taken, during the meeting.

Section 15.1-537 of the Code of Virginia authorizes county boards of supervisors to have special meetings. Section 15.1-538 sets out the procedure to be followed in calling a special meeting. The materials you provide indicate that the procedures set out in §15.1-538 were followed.

Section 15.1-537, however, provides that "[a]t any meeting a majority of the supervisors shall constitute a quorum." In that only four of the nine supervisors were present in this instance, a quorum did not exist. In the absence of a quorum, the Board could take no official action.

Although the members present could not validly act as the board, a meeting of four members of a county board of supervisors constitutes a "meeting" of such a board within the meaning of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, §§2.1-340 through 2.1-346.1 (the "Act"). See §2.1- 341(a). For the purposes of the Act, therefore, the November 7 special meeting was a meeting of the board of supervisors requiring notice and the taking of minutes. See §2.1-343. You indicate that minutes were taken. You do not indicate whether information as to the time and place of the special meeting was furnished to any citizen who had requested such information. Assuming that this notice requirement was met, the special meeting did not violate the Act.

You also ask whether committees of the Board may lawfully conduct an executive or closed meeting. Committees established by public bodies, like the collegial body itself, are subject to the Act and must comply with the Act's open meeting requirement. Similarly, such committees may also conduct closed meetings if the requirements of §2.1-344 are met. See Reports of the Attorney General: 1981-1982 at 437; 1977-1978 at 482; 1976-1977 at 308; 1975-1976 at 412; 1974-1975 at 584; see also 1984-1985 Report of the Attorney General at 418.