What is the intent of Utah's Open and Public Meetings Act?
Are any meetings required to be closed? For what reasons can a meeting be closed? Are minutes required of closed meetings?Those were a few of the questions the Deseret News posed to 10 randomly selected mayors and city council members from Davis, Salt Lake and Utah counties.
Designed to test basic knowledge of the law, the survey revealed that elected officials don't completely understand the open meetings act, whose intent is to ensure that public bodies' "actions be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly."
Only one official answered that the law was intended to keep actions and discussions open. Most mentioned only the "actions" part of the law's intent.
Asked whether the act requires any meeting to be closed, seven correctly said no, one said yes and one didn't know. Seven also correctly answered that the act applies to non-elected public bodies.
When asked to list the reasons allowed for closing meetings, none could list all six reasons. One respondent was able to list five; two were able to list three reasons; three could name two of the reasons and two could cite only one legal reason for closing a meeting.
One respondent listed "finances" and another said "salaries," neither of which is grounds for closing a meeting.
Asked what a public body must do before convening a closed meeting, only five of the 10 respondents answered "vote," but none of those five knew that it requires a two-thirds majority rather than a simple majority of the body.
Only four answered correctly that minutes of some type were required to be kept of closed meetings. Three said no minutes were required, and two said they didn't know.
One city council member selected to participate in the survey refused to answer any questions.
The survey was performed by telephone during the third week of August.
*****
(Chart)
Do elected officials know how the open meetings act works?
Are non-elected bodies such as advisory committees and planning commissions subject to the ACT?
Yes 7 No 1 Don't know 1 Refused to answer 1
Does the Act require any meeting to be closed?
Yes 1 No 7 Don't know 1 Refused to answer 1
For what reasons can a meeting be closed?
Don't know 1
Collective bargaining 1
Security 1
Personnel 8
Property 5
Litigation 3
Finances 1
Salaries 1
What must a public body do before convening a closed meeting?
Simple majority vote 5
Announce and convene 2
Don't know 2
Refused to answer 1
Correct answer: 2/3 majority vote
Are any minutes required to be kept of closed meetings?
Yes 4 No 3 Don't know 2 Refused to answer 1
Correct answer: Yes