February 26, 2015
Expert: Homer BOE panel should be public
HOMER — The state expert on open government disagreed Wednesday with the Homer Board of Education’s assertion that private meetings could be held by a committee that may be created to advise the board on the impacts of closing and selling Hartnett Elementary School in Truxton.
Bob Freeman, executive director of the state Committee on Open Government, said that since the panel is prescribed by law, its proceedings must be public. Homer Superintendent of Schools Nancy Ruscio had said Tuesday that the state Open Meetings Law would not apply because the panel would be merely advisory in nature, formed to make recommendations to the board but not take formal action.
The board of education met Tuesday, discussing the idea of forming some entity, either an advisory committee or think tank, that would prepare an “educational impact statement” on the closure and sale of Hartnett. The school is closing at the end of the school year and the board is considering selling it but officials want to ensure they follow state Education Law 402-a that lays out procedures for properly closing a school building.
The board took no action on the matter Tuesday but is expected to revisit the subject at its next meeting.
The advisory committee would have to study all aspects of the closure and sale, including the building’s potential use and all possible effects on the community of its closing.
Ruscio and board members had also discussed keeping the committee’s membership secret to protect members from the ire of the public over the contentious topic. Freeman disagreed strongly with this, saying that the membership of the committee should “unquestionably” be public regardless of whether the committee is required by law or not.
Even if the committee were not required by law, it would still fall under the state Freedom of Information Law, which has a broader scope than the Open Meetings Law, Freeman said.
“That means that even though the advisory body is not subject to Open Meetings Law, any record it acquires or prepares is covered by FOIL,” Freeman said.
However, Freeman said that since the board is required by law to form the committee, the state Open Meetings Law would apply to it.
“We have consistently advised that if an entity is a creation of law, performing a necessary function, it’s covered by the Open Meetings Law,” Freeman said.
Freeman cited various opinions of the Committee on Open Government pertaining to boards that perform necessary functions.
In part, an opinion from Jan. 2, 2009, states, “because a local advisory council is a creation of law ... is authorized to perform particular functions, based on the direction of judicial decisions, it would appear that such an entity constitutes a ‘public body’ required to comply with the Open Meetings Law.”
Ruscio deferred comment to the district’s legal counsel, the Rochester-based law firm Harris Beach. Attorney Kate Hill did not return phone calls for comment by press time this morning.
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