Maybe you’ve never attended a school board or town council meeting. Or maybe you’ve been to a meeting or two and found the process strange or confusing. Wherever you’re at, I’d like to share some insight into what’s going on and why it’s done that way. Every governing body is unique, and that includes the nature and structure of their meetings. Let’s examine the most common elements of local government meetings.
The first thing you’ll need to understand is that meetings aren’t always meetings. Indiana law defines three distinct types of gatherings for government boards and councils. The first is what’s commonly referred to as the legal meeting. That’s the session at which the board performs a variety of actions to satisfy state and federal requirements … and gives the public the opportunity to witness discussions and decision-making, as well as make comments. To qualify as a legal meeting, a quorum of members must be present (typically at least 3 for a 5-member board) and an agenda for the meeting has to be posted online, in public places, and submitted to the media at least two business days prior. Legal meetings are open to the public.
The second type, work sessions, may look like meetings, but board members are not allowed to make formal decisions during them. Work sessions are typically a way for boards to discuss complex issues in more detail than the public is likely to want or endure. (Then again, you might find 90 minutes of engineers explaining gravity sewers and why they’re holding up a construction project fascinating. Oddly enough, I do.) Work sessions are also open to the public.
The third type, executive sessions, is different in that the public may not attend. Generally, the board and key employees will participate, often along with attorneys and professional consultants. Executive sessions are for specific issues that the board cannot or should not discuss in public, such as planning for security, negotiating a land purchase, or addressing an issue with an employee’s performance or behavior. As with work sessions, board members cannot make legal decisions during executive sessions. They may reach consensus on the matter, but that matter will have to be voted on publicly at a subsequent legal meeting.
Most boards and councils send members a packet of background information several days before they meet. The packet gives the members a chance to review the information at length and discuss any concerns with key employees like town managers or school superintendents ahead of time. That allows the members to make decisions with greater confidence. Our board’s monthly meeting packets typically ran between 150 and 400 pages, including a complete list of every bill that needed to be paid. Those bills – legally referred to as claims – might cover everything from a $5 million bond interest payment to a $1.29 fastener purchase at the local hardware store.
Next, we’ll look at the structure of meetings.