1.06 Open and Closed Meetings
The 1978 Legislature passed a new open meetings law which became effective
on January 1, 1979. This new open meetings law clarifies the earlier law
and removes many of the ambiguities. It is now possible to speak with
some greater precision about the legal requirements imposed by statute.
Some time ago the university counsel was asked for an opinion on the
open meetings law. He wrote as follows:
"In light of the new open meetings law, I thought it might be wise
for me to update my letter of July 20, 1977. Unless I hear from you requesting
additional information, I will confine my remarks to the subject matter
of that letter; that is, whether university committees are subject to
the open meetings law.
"It is my opinion that the new statute, which becomes effective
January 1, 1979, does not change my previous letter. In fact, if anything,
I think it is clearer that university committees created by you or your
delegate are not a governmental body which was to hold public meetings.
"The new statute, in part, defines a governmental body as one 'expressly
created by the statutes of the state or by executive order'. Executive
order is not defined, but I assume that refers to orders of the governor.
Clearly, university committees are not such a creature.
"Governmental bodies also include 'a multi-membered body formally
and directly created by' a governmental body. This would refer to committees
or other groups created by the Board of Regents whether it included Regents
or not. Therefore, if you have any organized groups of any kind that have
been created by the Board of Regents, then those groups are public bodies
and must comply with the new public meeting law.
"Lastly, the legislature showed that it did not intend to include
all committees appointed by the Regents or presidents of universities
by specifically defining bodies responsible for the management and control
of intercollegiate athletic programs to be a public body. This incorporates
the Greene decision. More importantly, it is extremely narrow, therefore,
it excludes other committees. Had the legislature intended to include
all similar committees, the language would have been materially different."
To our knowledge, then, the only body possibly covered by the open meetings
law on this campus is the Athletic Policy Advisory Council and that is
by no means certain from the language of the statute. Occasionally, a
question has been raised about the University Faculty Senate, but apparently
the University Faculty Senate, which was created in 1937, grew out of
the Council of Instructional Department Heads and was not formally or
directly created by the Board of Regents. Its composition and rules have
been changed over the years without reference to the Regents. The Board
of Regents Office is now checking minutes to ascertain if other committees
are subject to the statute.
Having said all of this, it should also be said that even those committees
and multi-membered bodies not bound by the law should operate in the spirit
of the new statute, holding open meetings for the most part but also paying
due attention to the reasons given for holding a closed session.
For the benefit of the Athletic Policy Advisory Council, then, the following
procedures should be followed.
1. At least 24 hours prior to the commencement of the meeting a notice
of the meeting and a tentative agenda for the meeting should be posted
on a bulletin board which is accessible to the public. In addition, it
would be necessary for the notice and tentative agenda to be sent to any
news organization which has requested notification of meetings. In any
case, when it is necessary to hold a meeting on less than 24 hours notice
the reason for holding the meeting on less than 24 hours notice must be
stated in the minutes. A bulletin board will be designated in Gilchrist
Hall for this purpose.
2. Minutes should be kept of each meeting and should include a time
and place, the members present, the action taken at the meeting, and the
results of each vote taken. The minutes need not be exceedingly detailed
but they should make it possible for a reader to ascertain the general
subject matter discussed at the meeting and any decisions taken. A custodian
for the minutes should be designated and he/she should maintain them in
an orderly and up-to-date fashion.
3. In the event that the Athletic Policy Advisory Council decides the
public may legally be excluded, certain procedures must strictly be observed:
a. Two-thirds of the members of the committee or all of the members
present at the meeting, whichever is less, must vote in the affirmative
to close a meeting.
b. The vote of each member on the question of holding the closed session
and the reason for holding the closed session, by a specific reference
to an exception to the law (as outlined below), must be announced publicly
in the open session and entered in the minutes.
c. Subject matter may not be discussed during the closed session which
does not directly relate to the reason announced in the public session
for closing the meeting.
d. Final action on any matter discussed in the closed session must
be taken in an open session, unless some other provision of the Iowa
Code or federal constitutional law expressly requires or permits such
action to be taken in closed session.
e. The entire closed session must be tape recorded, and detailed minutes,
indicating persons present, must be kept of all discussions and action
occurring at the closed session. The detailed minutes and tape recording
of the closed session must be sealed and kept for a period of at least
one year from the date of the meeting.
The following reasons may be used for holding a closed session:
1. To review or discuss records which are required or authorized by
state or federal law to be kept confidential or to be kept confidential
as a condition for that governmental body's possession or continued receipt
of federal funds.
2. To discuss application for letters patent.
3. To discuss strategy with counsel in matters that are presently in
litigation or where litigation is imminent where its disclosure would
be likely to prejudice or disadvantage the position of the governmental
body in that litigation.
4. To discuss the contents of a licensing examination or whether to
initiate licensee disciplinary investigations or proceedings if the governmental
body is a licensing or examining board.
5. To discuss whether to conduct a hearing or to conduct hearings to
suspend or expel a student, unless an open session is requested by the
student or a parent or guardian of the student if the student is a minor.
6. To discuss the decision to be rendered in a contested case conducted
according to the provisions of chapter 17A of the Code.
7. To avoid disclosure of specific law enforcement matters, such as
current or proposed investigations, inspection or auditing techniques
or schedules, which if disclosed would enable law violators to avoid detection.
8. To avoid disclosure of specific law enforcement matters, such as
allowable tolerances or criteria for the selection, prosecution or settlement
of cases, which if disclosed would facilitate disregard of requirements
imposed by law.
9. To evaluate the professional competency of an individual whose appointment,
hiring, performance or discharge is being considered when necessary to
prevent needless and irreparable injury to that individual's reputation
and that individual requests a closed session.
10. To discuss the purchase of particular real estate only where premature
disclosure could be reasonably expected to increase the price the governmental
body would have to pay for that property. The minutes and the tape recording
of a session closed under this paragraph shall be available for public
examination when the transaction discussed is completed.
Let me repeat again that I believe the committees, councils, multi-membered
bodies of any kind should operate in the spirit of the new statute even
though the law does not require them to do so.
A clear exception to the procedures spelled out by the open meetings
law must of course be observed in areas affecting statutory and constitutional
civil rights, including rights to privacy as they may be affected in certain
administrative or judicial proceedings. There are certain committees which
should not conduct activities in public for to do so would violate other
provisions of state or federal law. Where the Iowa open meetings law conflicts
with constitutional law or federal statutes, the constitutional and federal
law takes precedence. Examples of such are: Section 438 of the General
Education Provision Act, Title IV of Public Law 90-247 as amended, and
regulations pertaining to that act.
Where individual rights, including rights to privacy, are relevant,
committees may not conduct certain activities in public without violating
provisions of state and federal law. Such committees would be those committees
concerned with social or academic disciplinary measures with respect to
students, search committees associated with employment of persons, or
committees considering individual student or personnel records.
To assist with compliance with this law, a bulletin board clearly identified
for the posting of notices of public meetings is in the east hall, second
floor, of Gilchrist Hall. This bulletin board will be used for the posting
of notices of public meetings of the Board of Regents and any other meetings
to be held on the UNI campus that fall within the scope of the Iowa Open
Meetings Law. Announcements of Board of Regents meetings, including agenda,
will be posted by the Office of Public Information.
Preparation of announcements of all other public meetings to be held
on the UNI campus will be the responsibility of the office or organization
hosting the meeting. These announcements, containing tentative agenda,
are to be taken to the Office of Public
Information for posting at least twenty-four hours in advance of the
meeting.
You may also want to visit the Legal
Affairs Policies
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