Legal Affairs - Opening Meetings

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Opening Meetings

General Requirements: (G. S. 143-318.9 and 143-318.10)

In general, all "official meetings" of "public bodies" must be open to the public. This includes any meetings conducted by conference telephone calls or other electronic means (G. S. 143-318.13). "Informal" meetings may not be held for the purpose of evading the open meetings law.

The public body must post advance notice of official meetings. The agency must mail notice to anyone who requests notice in writing. The procedure for giving notice is addressed in the statute (G.S. 143-318.12), and assistance is available from NC State’s office of News Services. For details on providing notice, see the university’s web site on open meeting procedures and the News Services web site on posting meeting notices.

Television and radio stations may broadcast open meetings. (G. S. 143-318.14)

MEETING MINUTES:

The public body must keep full and accurate minutes of open meetings. The minutes may be written or in other forms such as video or audio tapes. The minutes are public records and in most cases must be available to anyone who requests to see them (G. S. 143-318.10(e)).

Even when acting in a "closed meeting," the public body must keep records that give a general account of the business being conducted. When a meeting is closed or exempt from open meetings law, its minutes may or may not be subject to inspection by the public, depending on the applicability of public records law, and depending on whether release of the minutes would frustrate the purpose of the closed session. (See G.S. 132-1 through 132-10 and G.S. 143-318.10(e)).

WHAT IS A "PUBLIC BODY"?

For university purposes a "public body" includes:

any committee or group established by a vice chancellor or higher authority,
whose membership is not just university administrators,
that deals with matters on a university-wide basis, and
makes findings, decisions, or recommendations on a quasi-legislative, quasi-judicial, policy-making, or administrative action.

This definition is based on the statutory wording (G.S. 143-318.10) and interpretations from the UNC General Administration (see web site at: http://www.provost.ncsu.edu/governance/openmeet/index.php)

OFFICIAL MEETINGS:

Under the statute, only official meetings, gatherings, or simultaneous communications of the public body fall under the open meeting laws. To be an official meeting, a majority of the public body must attend the meeting and the meetings must be for the purposes of conducting hearings, deliberations, voting, or otherwise conducting public business. (G.S. 143-318.10(d)).

EXCEPTIONS:

A public body may conduct a closed meeting (not open to the public) to prevent disclosure of privileged or otherwise confidential information. The public body must make a motion to close the meeting and cite the law that provides for confidentiality. Some justifications for having closed meetings include:

to prevent premature disclosure of honorary degrees, prizes, scholarships, or other awards (G. S. 143-318.11(a)(2))
to receive information or discussions with an attorney under the attorney-client privilege. However, the discussions must be within the scope of the privilege. An entire meeting cannot be closed just be cause a lawyer is present. (G. S. 143-318.11(a)(3))
to discuss expansion of business or industry or to offer incentives to businesses (G. S. 143-318.11(a)(4))
to discuss buying land, leasing property, or employment contracts (G. S. 143-318.11(a)(5))
to consider an employee’s qualifications, complaints about an employee, or other personnel matters (G. S. 143-318.11(a)(6))
to plan, conduct, or review reports from hearings concerning criminal misconduct (G. S. 143-318.11(a)(7)) or to prevent disclosure of student records (20 U.S.C. 1232g and G. S. 143-318.11(a)(1))
to prevent disclosure of personnel records (G. S. 126-22 and 143-318.11(a)(1))

IMPORTANT: When a public body acts without proper justification, a court may undo actions taken during the closed meeting by deeming the public body’s actions "null and void." In addition, the court may award attorney’s fees to the winning party when a closed meeting is challenged in court, and may direct that members of the public body pay for such costs personally if there is an intentional violation. (G. S. 143-318.16B.)