Mark was concerned that board meetings conducted by his village’s community forest corporation were mostly taking place in private.

Mark came to us as a concerned citizen and we began an investigation into the board’s procedure for closing meetings.

First, we looked at the board’s confidentiality policy. It stated that all meetings were to be open to the public, unless the subject matter of the meeting fell into one of several categories. To make the meeting private, the board was to pass a resolution identifying which category applied. Satisfied that this policy was adequate, we looked at the manner in which it was applied. However, when we reviewed the board’s meeting minutes we found no references to the resolutions required under the board’s policy.

The corporation moved to amend its practices and bring them into compliance with its policy. Now, prior to closing a meeting, the board will open with a public meeting and then pass a resolution stating which section of the policy was being relied on to close proceedings to the public. We invited Mark to contact us again if he had any future concerns.