Judges: JOHN ASHCROFT
Filed Date: 3/22/1984
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
Dear Mr. Turner:
This is in response to your recent request for an opinion asking:
Does Section
610.010 (3), RSMo., as amended, entitled "Public Meeting" prohibit the City Manager of St. Joseph, Missouri, from meeting behind closed doors in his office in City Hall with one or more City Councilmembers of St. Joseph without notice to anyone, other than the council member(s) in attendance to discuss City policy?
As we view this question, the legal issue posed is whether a meeting of less than a quorum of the members of a public governmental body is subject to the provisions of the Sunshine Law, Chapter 610, RSMo 1978 Supp. 1983.
Section
Section
Section
Section
As used in sections
610.010 to610.030 and610.100 to610.115 , unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms mean:
. . .
(3) "Public meeting", any meeting of a public governmental body subject to this act at which any public business is discussed, decided or public policy formulated, but shall not include an informal gathering of members of a governmental body for ministerial or social purposes when there is no intent to avoid the purposes of this chapter;
(Emphasis in original and revisor's note omitted.)
Section
A formally constituted subunit of a parent governmental body may conduct a meeting without notice as required by this section during a lawful meeting of the parent governmental body, a recess in that meeting, or immediately following that meeting, if the meeting of the subunit is publicly announced at the parent meeting and the subject of the meeting reasonably coincides with the subjects discussed or acted upon by the parent governmental body.
In Opinion No. 330, Volkmer, 1973, copy enclosed, this office concluded that meetings of subcommittees of the St. Louis County Council, which do not include the entire membership of the council, are subject to the Sunshine Law. In Opinion No. 10, Schechter, 1975, copy enclosed, this office concluded that luncheon meetings of the minority members of the St. Louis County Council are subject to the Sunshine Law. In reaching these conclusions, this office found that the evil sought to be cured by the Sunshine Law was the deliberate exclusion of the public from the decision-making processes of public governmental bodies. See Tribune Publishing Company v. Curators of theUniversity of Missouri,
CONCLUSION
It is the opinion of this office that meetings of less than a quorum of the members of a public governmental body are subject to the provisions of the Sunshine Law, Chapter 610, RSMo 1978 Supp. 1983.
Yours very truly,
JOHN ASHCROFT Attorney General
Enclosures