Fair Game?
Oh yeah, Fair Game!
In the public interest, an email from a friend:
Mr. Bennett,
Thank you for your service to the country.
We have an FAQ about electronic communications and deliberation on our website that I hope will be helpful for you:
May members of a public body communicate with the public through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and webpages?
Yes, members of public bodies may communicate with members of the public through any social media platform. However, members of public bodies must be careful not to engage in deliberation with the other members of the public body through such communications. If a member of a public body communicates directly with a quorum of the public body over social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter, that communication may violate the Open Meeting Law. Public body members should proceed with caution when communicating via these platforms.
Posting on a blog is not a violation of the Open Meeting Law, nor is having comments open on the page. However, if a quorum of public body members discusses matters related to the business of the public body on the blog, it would probably constitute deliberation, which would be a violation of the Open Meeting Law.
We do not think it is necessary to include a disclaimer on your page.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Sincerely,
Kadie
Kaitlin Maher
Paralegal, Division of Open Government
Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General
One Ashburton Place, 20th Floor
Boston, MA 02108
Ph: (617) 963-2451
Fax: (617) 727-5785
Kaitlin.Maher@massmail.state.ma.us
Thank you for your service to the country.
We have an FAQ about electronic communications and deliberation on our website that I hope will be helpful for you:
May members of a public body communicate with the public through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and webpages?
Yes, members of public bodies may communicate with members of the public through any social media platform. However, members of public bodies must be careful not to engage in deliberation with the other members of the public body through such communications. If a member of a public body communicates directly with a quorum of the public body over social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter, that communication may violate the Open Meeting Law. Public body members should proceed with caution when communicating via these platforms.
Posting on a blog is not a violation of the Open Meeting Law, nor is having comments open on the page. However, if a quorum of public body members discusses matters related to the business of the public body on the blog, it would probably constitute deliberation, which would be a violation of the Open Meeting Law.
We do not think it is necessary to include a disclaimer on your page.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Sincerely,
Kadie
Kaitlin Maher
Paralegal, Division of Open Government
Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General
One Ashburton Place, 20th Floor
Boston, MA 02108
Ph: (617) 963-2451
Fax: (617) 727-5785
Kaitlin.Maher@massmail.state.ma.us
So, it looks like the Advisory Committee members can post blogs to communicate with members of the general public. If you are not a member of the Templeton Board of Selectmen, you can post blogs AND post comments on FB, blogs, Twitter etc. about the actions (or inactions) of the Templeton Board of Selectmen.
Need a definition of "matters related to the business of the public body".
Watching the 8/14 BOS meeting I found myself amused by the fact that people listened to the BOS go on and on, meeting after meeting about the intentional OML violations regarding Policies and Procedure and blogs for what, 5-6 meetings.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of the deflection attempt by Selectman Fortes the facts remain. NO OML violation occurred, the BOS didn't follow proper procedure during the process and actually filed the complaints after the time line expired.
Why did the BOS feel it was necessary to waste Templeton meeting time on an issue without even bothering to look at the process required to complete it.
The reason was political retribution, deflection to distract from the failures in actual management.
Look at the items in town that have improved and that are being worked on. How many originated from comments on this and Jeffs Blog? I'd venture to say more than people are aware of.
However, if a quorum of public body members discusses matters related to the business of the public body on the blog, it would probably constitute deliberation, which would be a violation of the Open Meeting Law.
ReplyDeleteNo kidding !! That is why none of us have ever done that !
Delete