Papers Complain of Closed Meetings

In a complaint by Gazette Newspapers the board found the Bowie City Council had failed to comply with procedures when it closed a meeting in May. According to the opinion, the council did not provide written notice explaining the reason and justification for the closed session prior to taking a vote to go into the closed meeting.

The opinion said even if the reason for closure was allowable, certain procedures must still be followed by a public body before closing the meeting.

The Hagerstown Herald-Mail filed a complaint against the Board of Education for Washington County saying the board held unannounced closed meetings dealing with the performance review and salary of the school superintendent that should have been open.

The Compliance Board said there was no violation of the law when unannounced meetings were held for the purpose of evaluating the superintendent’s performance, as that action falls under executive function, which is exempted.

But, the Compliance Board was unable to give an opinion on whether the law was violated in terms of contract changes due to a lack of sufficient information.

For the complete decisions check the Maryland attorney general’s Web site at www.oag.md.state/Opengov/index.htm.