Question
If a public school Board district holds a special meeting, are they required to post the minutes ASAP for 10 days after the meeting even if no vote was taken? The superintendent has told me no minutes need to be taken unless action or a vote was taken?This “Special Meeting” had one agenda Item listed and that was “Strategic Planning Session.” Public comment was allowed only at the beginning of the two day meeting (Board members and select public only). This meeting had a lengthy two day Agenda, workshop packets, and participants contact list were distributed to the selected participants (including School Board Members). This meeting had a paid facilitator and was scheduled weeks prior.Are they required to state to public what was talked about and what board members attended?
Answer
The Brown Act does not require legislative bodies to keep minutes of their meetings. The Act does require that legislative bodies publicly report on any “action taken” in closed session and “the vote or abstention of every member” of the body.You should also be aware that even special multiple day meetings (eg, retreats) of legislative bodies are subject to the Brown Act and must be open to the public at large — not just selected members of the public — unless one of the Act’s specific provisions authorizing an executive session applies. To facilitate public attendance, special multiple day meetings are subject to the same geographical restrictions as regular meetings, and must be held “within the boundaries of the territory over which the local agency exercises jurisdiction,” with limited exceptions set forth in Government Code section 54954.
Asked & Answered posts should not be relied on as legal advice, and FAC makes no guarantees about their completeness or accuracy. All posts carry a date of publication that readers should take note of in assessing their usefulness, given that laws and interpretations of them may change over time. Posts predating Jan. 1, 2023, that discuss the California Public Records Act may contain statute numbers no longer in use. Please see this page for a table showing how the California Public Records Act has been renumbered.