Request By:
Mr. Brantly D. Amberg
Secretary
Board of Levee Commissioners
of Fulton County
Hickman, Kentucky 42050
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
You have requested an opinion of the Attorney General on questions pertaining to the Kentucky Open Meetings Law as it relates to the Board of Levee Commissioners of Fulton County. We will answer your questions as presented.
1. Is the Levee Board a public agency as defined in KRS 61.805?
Answer: Yes. A Board of Levee Commissioners is a public agency created by statute, KRS 266.100.
2. Does KRS 61.820 require a newspaper to advertise the time and place of regular meetings?
Answer: No. KRS 61.820 simply provides that public agencies should have a schedule of regular meetings established by ordinance, regulation, bylaws or other means.
3. If newspaper advertising of regular meetings is not required, in what other manner is the Levee Board expected to advise the public of the time and place of regular meetings?
Answer: The statutes do not prescribe any particular method of publicizing the schedule of regular meetings. The Board may use such method of publicity as it sees fit including paid announcements in the newspaper or a news item in the local newspaper concerning the meeting.
4. The Board ordinarily conducts its meetings in the office of the Postmaster, who is a member of the Board, at the Post Office in Hickman. Is the place for holding these meetings repugnant to any statute or law?
Answer: No. KRS 61.840 provides, inter alia, as follows:
"All agencies shall provide meeting room conditions which insofar as is feasible allow effective public observation of the public meetings."
If the room in the post office where the meeting is held is large enough to accommodate the members of the public who want to attend and is accessible to the public, it is a suitable meeting place.
You ask the following questions with respect to special meetings, and state that neither newspaper has filed a request with the Levee Board to be notified of such meetings.
1. Must the newspapers be notified of each such special meeting under the provisions of KRS 61.825?
Answer: If a newspaper or other news agency has not filed a letter with the agency requesting to be notified of special meetings, the agency is not required to notify the news agency. When a newspaper has filed a letter requesting to be notified of special meetings, it is to be given written notice of the special meeting at least 24 hours in advance. KRS 61.825(1).
2. Must the notice of each special meeting contain the specific purposes of the meeting?
Answer: No.
3. May Each Levee Board Commissioner sign a waiver of notice in lieu of personal or mail delivery?
Answer: No. KRS 61.825 provides, in part, as follows:
"(1) A special meeting may be called at any time by the presiding officer of the public agency or by a majority of the members of the governing body of the public agency by delivering personally or by mail written notice to each member of the public agency. . . . Said notice of a special meeting must be delivered personally or by mail at least 24 hours prior to the time of such meeting as is specified in the notice. If time does not permit giving 24-hour notice, then notice that is reasonable under existing circumstances and is calculated to inform the public shall be given to the news media and the public."
A commissioner cannot waive his right to receive a notice of a special meeting.
Your final question has to do with the manner of recording the actions of the Board in the minutes. You ask:
"Does KRS 61.835 require that the commissioner who made the motion, the commissioner who seconded the motion and the names of each commissioner voting for and against the motion be specified?"
Answer: KRS 61.835 reads as follows:
"The minutes of action taken of every meeting of any such public agency, setting forth an accurate record of votes and actions at such meetings, shall be promptly recorded and such records shall be open to public inspection at reasonable times no later than immediately following the next meeting of the body."
The customary practice in parlimentary bodies is to record in the minutes the name of the person who makes or seconds a motion, but such is not required by this statute. It is required, however, that the minutes show how each member voted or if he abstained. If the vote was unanimous it is sufficient to so state in the minutes.