Day 7: The Main Complaint

Here's the complaint as submitted to the Open Meetings Compliance Board. As long as a citizen thinks, in good faith, that the Act has been violated, he-she is entitled to file a complaint by letter, e-mail or fax.



Open Meetings Compliance Board
William Varga, Attorney General’s Office/by e-mail
200 St. Paul Place / Balto, MD 21202

re: Critical Areas Commission

Gentlemen:

I attended the Critical Areas Commission Drayton Manor Growth Allocation meeting at 10 a.m., Monday, July 30. Notice is on the Critical Area Commission Web site at: http://www.dnr.state.md.us/criticalarea/aboutthecommission.html#panel

At about 12:17 p.m., Chairman Gary Setzer turned to the audience, and said that he was going to close the meeting for legal advice under 10-508-(a)7. That was the entire "procedure" he followed.

At no time did the CAC attorney stop the chairman and guide him through the legally required procedure. The meeting was closed for about ½-hour. Once the meeting was re-opened, the chairman did not offer any explanation for the closed session. (While not required, it would have been a great courtesy to the 25 citizens present for the panel briefly to explain the legal points it had wished to clarify. The panel was courteous enough to explain several other items during the course of the meeting that they felt the general public would not necessarily know).

At adjournment, I asked their lawyer, Asst. Attorney General Saundra K. Canedo, for a copy of her business card and to see the written statement. I told Ms. Canedo that I had not heard a vote taken to close the meeting, in fact, no motion was made at all.

She began to refer to a copy of the Open Meetings Manual in a binder she carried. I asked to see the written statement and she said she did not have it. She did not ask me to wait while she got it from Mr. Setzer. I said that I would likely file a complaint.

At this meeting:

1. No motion to close was made.

2. No vote was taken and recorded.

3. No Topic was given, verbally. No Reason was given, verbally.

4. No written statement was prepared and signed by the presiding officer; and

5. I am unaware that anyone took meeting minutes.

I cannot determine the procedure CAC uses to report closed sessions to the public in minutes: meeting schedules and agendas are on their Web site but minutes are not. Given the inattention to procedure at this meeting, I assume that the panel has neglected to keep minutes.


Craig O’Donnell