Judges: Jim Smith, Attorney General Prepared by: Joslyn Wilson, Assistant Attorney General
Filed Date: 7/12/1983
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
Mr. Nicholas F. Tsamoutales City Attorney City of Palm Bay 115 Palm Bay Road Palm Bay, Florida 32905
Dear Mr. Tsamoutales:
This is in response to your request for an opinion on substantially the following question:
DOES THE GOVERNMENT IN THE SUNSHINE LAW REQUIRE THE DELIBERATIONS OF A MUNICIPAL BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT, SITTING AS A QUASI-JUDICIAL BODY, BE CONDUCTED IN THE OPEN?
According to your letter, the Board of Adjustment was created by the City of Palm Bay pursuant to its zoning ordinance to hear, inter alia, administrative appeals. When hearing such appeals, the board sits as a quasi-judicial body. You inquire as to whether the board's deliberative discussions after presentation of the testimony and evidence must be conducted in the Sunshine.
Section
Every thought, as well as every affirmative act, of a public official as it relates to and is within the scope of his official duties, is a matter of public concern; and it is the entire decision-making process that the legislature intended to affect by the enactment of the statute before us. . . . Every step in the decision-making process, including the decision itself, is a necessary preliminary to formal action. It follows that each such step constitutes an "official act," an indispensable requisite to "formal action," within the meaning of the act.
See also, Board of Public Instruction of Broward County v. Doran,
In Canney v. Board of Public Instruction of Alachua County,
The characterization of a decisional-making process by a School Board as "quasi-judicial" does not make the body into a judicial body. A county school board should not be authorized to avoid the Government in the Sunshine Law by making its own determination that an act is quasi-judicial. . . . The correct understanding of the terminology "quasi-judicial" means only that the School Board is acting under certain constitutional strictures which have been enforced upon all administrative boards and not that the School Board has become a part of the judicial branch. To hold otherwise would be to combine the legislative and judicial functions in one body clearly contrary to the separation of powers doctrine. 278 So. 2d at 263-264.
And see, Occidental Chemical Co. v. Mayo,
There would appear to be little doubt that the board of adjustment of the City of Palm Bay is an agency of the city within the purview of s
Accordingly, I am of the opinion, until judicially or legislatively determined otherwise, that the deliberations of a Board of Adjustment created by municipal ordinance, when sitting as a quasi-judicial body, are subject to the Government in the Sunshine Law and must be conducted in the open in accordance with the provisions of s
Sincerely,
Jim Smith, Attorney General
Prepared by: Joslyn Wilson, Assistant Attorney General
Canney v. Board of Pub. Instruction of Alachua Cty. , 278 So. 2d 260 ( 1973 )
Occidental Chemical Company v. Mayo , 351 So. 2d 336 ( 1977 )
Board of Public Instruction of Broward Cty. v. Doran , 224 So. 2d 693 ( 1969 )
State Dept. of Pol. Con. v. State Career Serv. Com'n , 320 So. 2d 846 ( 1975 )
Times Publishing Company v. Williams , 222 So. 2d 470 ( 1969 )