Council Basics
Meetings
Throughout the year, LCCs may meet for a variety of different reasons. Any meeting where public business is discussed must follow the directives of the Open Meeting Law as established under Massachusetts law. Otherwise, LCCs are encouraged to use any meeting formats or strategies that might best serve their members and their applicants.
Open Meetings
Under Massachusetts law, meetings of a local “government body,” including a Local Cultural Council (LCC), must be open to the public (M.G.L.c.30A, 18-25). The Massachusetts Attorney General has all interpretation and enforcement authority over open meeting law. The Open Meeting Law applies to every meeting of a quorum of a governmental body if any public business over which the governmental body has jurisdiction, is discussed, or considered. (A quorum is a simple majority of the members of the LCC.) Violation of the Open Meeting Law can result in the invalidation of the action taken. Read the Open Meeting Law. You can also read the Attorney General’s Open Meeting Law Guide.
The following summary is designed to help an LCC comply with the Open Meeting Law.
A notice of any meeting of an LCC must be filed with the city or town clerk at least 48 hours prior to the meeting, not counting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays. Example: Monday night meeting must be posted before Thursday night. Notices must (1) include list of topics chair reasonably anticipates will be discussed, i.e., agenda, and (2) be posted in or on municipal building to be visible to public at all hours.
The LCC must maintain accurate records of its meetings. Minutes must contain the date, place, time, and matters discussed and shall include summaries of matters discussed, list of documents used, and all decisions made/votes taken. Overall, the minutes are meant to serve as a record of what was done at a meeting and why decisions were made, not necessarily all that was said. For example, minutes from a grant cycle voting meeting should include the criteria ultimately cited in an application’s denial, but do not need to include a full transcript of the LCC discussion leading up to that decision.
Documents and other exhibits, such as photographs, recordings, or maps, used by the body at an open or executive session shall, along with the minutes, be part of the official record of the meeting. Minutes, notes, recordings, or other materials used in the preparation of minutes and all documents and exhibits used at the meeting shall become public records except as otherwise provided by law.
Meetings may be recorded via audio or video. The person desiring to record a meeting must notify the chair, however, and the chair must inform everyone in the room of the recording. An LCC may not rely solely on meeting recordings to satisfy the record-keeping requirements of the Law. Rather, the recordings should serve as an aid to the body in preparing its “hard copy” minutes.
No person may address a public meeting of an LCC without permission of the presiding LCC member, and all persons shall, at the request of the presiding officer, be silent.
Meetings must be open to the public and held in a physically accessible location. All open meetings of governmental bodies must be accessible to persons with disabilities. Meeting locations must be accessible by a wheelchair, without the need for special assistance. If the town or city hall does not have such space, another location which meets accessibility requirements must be found.
Open Meeting Law does not apply to any chance meeting, or a social meeting at which matters relating to official business are discussed, so long as no final agreement is reached. The Law specifically states that chance or social meetings are not to be used to circumvent the letter or spirit of the Law by treating them as occasions to discuss or act on a matter within the governmental body’s jurisdiction, control, or advisory power.
“Telephone meetings” – discussion by telephone among members of an LCC on an issue of public business – are a violation of the Law. This is true even where individual telephone conversations occur in serial fashion. Telephone and email voting or proxy voting is not allowed. Voting may not be done by secret ballot.
A quorum of members is required at meetings in order for any vote to take place. For LCCs, a quorum is a simple majority of the members of the LCC. For example, if an LCC has seven members, a quorum is four.
Regarding the use of e-mail:
Emails are expressly included in definition of “deliberation,” which is prohibited outside of meetings; but distribution of agendas, scheduling information, or reports to be discussed at a next meeting is permitted. While the Law specifically refers to “email” as constituting deliberation, be advised, however, that similar types of electronic communication, such as blogging, electronic chatrooms, and social networking sites will also likely fall within the scope of the definition of “deliberation” if a quorum of the public body is involved.
On March 29, 2023, Governor Healey signed into law a supplemental budget bill which, among other things, included an extension, until March 31, 2025, of the remote meeting provisions. The temporary provisions pertaining to the Open Meeting Law contain two primary provisions.
First, the temporary law allows public bodies to continue providing live “adequate, alternative means” of public access to the deliberations of the public body, instead of holding meetings in a public place that is open and physically accessible to the public. “Adequate, alternative means” may include, without limitation, providing public access through telephone, internet, or satellite enabled audio or video conferencing or any other technology that enables the public to clearly follow the proceedings of the public body in real time.
Second, the temporary law authorizes all members of a public body to continue participating in meetings remotely; the Open Meeting Law’s requirement that a quorum of the body and the chair be physically present at the meeting location remains suspended.
This means that your LCC does not need a quorum of members physically present to hold a decision meeting, however it does not eliminate the requirement for a quorum.
However, the public must still have access to the virtual meetings. As a result, do not hold any virtual meetings until you seek and receive permission and guidance from your city/town. The municipality will determine the process by which municipal boards and commissions can hold virtual meetings, and/or if they can hold them at all. All other aspects of Open Meeting Law are still in place such as the requirement to give notice, post an agenda, and keep minutes of the meeting.
Review the updated guidance on holding meetings pursuant to the Act Extending Current COVID-19 Measures for additional information.
Meeting Techniques
It is important to encourage the full participation of all LCC members. A helpful way to ensure attendance is to plan and approve an annual calendar of meetings once per year. An LCC member can be assigned to mail out reminders, email, or make phone calls before each meeting and poll new members before they are appointed to make sure they can attend. (Review suggested roles and responsibilities of each LCC member.) The LCC should consider rescheduling meetings if attendance becomes a problem for new members.
If necessary, establish an attendance policy for LCC members and follow up with members who fall below the required number of meetings to determine the cause. If an LCC member is non-responsive for a year, council members – by vote – may request the member resign and/or that the appointing authority remove them from the LCC. Only the appointing authority can remove an LCC member before their term expires.
LCCs looking to establish a policy for removing inactive members should first get approval from the municipality.
A well-run meeting gives everyone a sense of accomplishment and keeps members active and involved. It also shows respect for busy people’s schedules and commitment. Consider these suggestions:
- LCCs are required to keep minutes for each meeting. Consider appointing a second note-taker to help the secretary in this task.
- Set an agenda for each meeting, with predetermined topics and discussion time. The agenda may include policy issues, discussion topics, proposals, grant reviews, applicant interviews, required actions (voting), old and new business. See a sample meeting agenda.
- Distribute minutes, agendas, and applications well enough in advance of meetings so that members can attend prepared to take action.
- Make LCC records available as a tool to orient new members.
- It is not required, but you can consider using Roberts Rules of Order to run meetings.
- Meetings may be recorded via audio and/or video. The person desiring to record a meeting must notify the chair, however, and the chair must inform everyone in the room of the recording.
- No person may address a public meeting of an LCC without permission of the presiding council member, and all persons shall, at the request of the presiding officer, be silent.
