Request By:
Ms. Olive W. Crockett
Clerk
City of Middlesborough
P.O. Box 756
Middlesboro, Kentucky 40965
Opinion
Opinion By: David L. Armstrong, Attorney General; Walter C. Herdman, Asst. Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of June 18 in which you seek an opinion concerning the following questions that were raised regarding special meetings of the common council of the city:
"(1) Who must be notified of special meetings?
"(2) By what manner are they to be notified and is there a specific number of hours that the notice must be served prior to the beginning of the meeting?
"(3) Who is responsible for notifying the appropriate individuals and various news media of special called meetings of the Council - particularly special meetings called by the Council?"
The 1980 Municipal Code, particularly KRS 83A.130(11) declares that special meetings of the council may be called by the mayor or upon written request by a majority of the council. This section further provides that in the call the mayor or council shall designate the purpose, time and place of the meeting with sufficient notice for the attendance of council members and in compliance with Ch. 61 KRS.
Under the open meetings act, particularly KRS 61.825, you will find detailed the requirements for holding special meetings which are the following:
"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 and to each local newspaper of general circulation, each news service and each local radio or television station which has on file with the public agency a written request to be notified of special meetings. Said notice of a special meeting must be delivered personally or by mail at least twenty-four (24) hours prior to the time of such meeting as specified in the notice. If time does not permit giving twenty-four (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.
"(2) The notice provided for in subsection (1) of this section is not required in the event that a special meeting is called to deal with an emergency involving injury or damage to personal property or financial loss to a public agency or the likelihood of such injury or damage or financial loss, when the time requirements of such notice of such special meeting would make such notice impractical and increase the likelihood of injury or damage or financial loss.
"(3) With the exception of special meetings called pursuant to subsection (2) of this section no special meeting shall be held except in full compliance with provisions of subsection (1) of this section."
The above statute clearly requires that each member of the council receive written notice of the special meeting either delivered personally or by mail at least 24 hours prior to the time of such meeting with certain exceptions in case of emergencies. Also, you will note that the news media must be notified accordingly. Failure to comply with this statute with respect to the holding of special meetings nullifies the meeting as indicated in subsection (3) of the above statute.
As to whose responsibility it is to notify the individual members of the council and the mayor as well as the news media, the statute is not very definite except the implication is that whoever calls the meeting, either the mayor or the majority of members of the governing body, appears to have the basic responsibility for the notification. We, however, do not believe that it would in any way affect the validity of the meeting if those responsible for calling the meeting directed the city clerk to issue the written notices in the manner required by KRS 61.825. This matter should be taken care of by an appropriate ordinance outlining the procedure for calling special meetings.