Virtual Public Meetings

Thu 31 Mar, 2016 / by Cable Huston / General

Imagine the scenario where an administrative assistant for a municipal utility, PUD, or other similar governmental entity sends a group email to the entity’s governing body that contains the agenda for an upcoming public meeting. The agenda clearly describes certain decisions to be made by the governing body at the meeting. Now imagine further that one of the board members has a thought or question about a board action-item on the agenda. The board member hits the Reply All button to share his or her thoughts. I think we all understand that, unless a specific exception applies, this email exchange would be a public record subject to disclosure upon a public records request.

However, according to a recent Oregon Court of Appeals decision, this seemingly harmless email exchange…. Read More