[HISTORY: Adopted by the Suffolk County Legislature as indicated
in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable. Uncodified
sections of local laws amending these provisions are included at the
end of this chapter.]
[Adopted 4-27-2010 by L.L. No. 21-2010 (Ch. 127, Art. I,
of the 1985 Code)]
A.
This Legislature hereby finds and determines that the County of Suffolk
periodically establishes commissions, committees, task forces and
panels to study issues that are important to County residents.
B.
This Legislature finds that these commissions, committees, task forces
and panels are typically charged with the responsibility of gathering
and analyzing information, seeking and obtaining public input and
offering recommendations for further action by the County Executive
and/or the County Legislature.
C.
This Legislature determines that, while most of these entities are
advisory in nature, the recommendations they make often guide the
eventual development and implementation of policies that impact the
public.
D.
This Legislature further finds that New York State's Open Meetings
Law[1] requires public bodies to conduct meetings that are adequately
noticed and open to members of the public. However, the state law
has been interpreted by the courts to exclude advisory bodies from
open meeting requirements.
[1]
Editor's Note: See Art. 7 of the Public Officers Law.
E.
This Legislature finds and determines that some County advisory bodies
are, as a matter of general practice, conducting meetings that are
not advertised and not open to the public. For example, Resolution
No. 1260-2009 created a task force to review the operations of the
County's health center network and determine if Suffolk County would
benefit from federally qualified health center (FQHC) status. This
task force is not posting notices of its meetings, and the meetings
are closed to the public.
F.
This Legislature finds that the County's advisory bodies should adhere
to open meeting principles because they often play an important role
in making public policy.
G.
This Legislature also determines that open meetings encourage citizen
participation and foster transparency, important considerations at
a time when trust in public institutions is at an all-time low.
H.
Therefore, the purpose of this article is to require that all advisory
bodies established by the County of Suffolk comply with open meeting
requirements.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Any commission, committee, task force, panel or other entity
created by the County of Suffolk through enactment of a resolution
or by executive order which is authorized and empowered to act in
an advisory capacity and/or to make advisory recommendations to the
County Executive, the Suffolk County Legislature or any other department,
agency or officer of Suffolk County government.
[Amended 4-20-2021 by L.L. No. 14-2021; 10-5-2021 by L.L. No. 26-2021]
A.
Advisory bodies shall hold all meetings in a manner which is open
and readily available to the public. Advisory bodies shall comply
with the following public notice requirements for meetings. Notices
must be published by the advisory body at least 72 hours prior to
a meeting and include the date, time, physical location for in-person
attendance and format of the meeting with information on how members
of the public can view and access the meeting contemporaneously with
its occurrence as well as an agenda of business for the meeting. Advisory
bodies utilizing videoconferencing or teleconferencing for the purposes
of their meetings shall not be required to notice the locations from
which individual members participate.
B.
When videoconferencing or teleconferencing is utilized for an advisory
body meeting, members of the public shall be permitted to attend in
the same format that members participate.
C.
Minutes shall be prepared in accordance with the requirements set
forth in § 106 of the New York Public Officers Law.
D.
Advisory bodies may conduct executive sessions for the purposes set
forth in § 105 of the New York Public Officers Law.
E.
Advisory bodies which use videoconferencing or teleconferencing to
conduct business shall utilize the videoconferencing or teleconferencing
platform and account information provided by the County. Advisory
bodies shall confer with the department or office which provides support
to the body prior to conducting a meeting through the use of videoconferencing
or teleconferencing. The supporting department or office shall, when
possible, provide the advisory body with the videoconferencing or
teleconferencing platform and account information necessary to conduct
the meeting. If the supporting department does not have videoconferencing
or teleconferencing capabilities, it shall request that the County
Legislature provide the videoconferencing or teleconferencing platform
and account information for use by the advisory body. Such meetings
shall take place under the supervision of the entity providing the
videoconferencing or teleconferencing platform and account information.
During advisory body meetings conducted via videoconferencing on County
platforms, it shall be the responsibility of the host of the meeting
to ensure that the functions providing for closed captioning of the
meeting and the generation of an automatic transcription shall be
utilized at all times. The automatic transcription shall be maintained
as part of the advisory body's meeting records and made available
to the public in an accessible format on the appropriate County website.
[Amended 11-16-2021 by L.L. No. 28-2021]
This article shall apply to the meetings of advisory bodies
occurring on or after the effective date of this article.
[Adopted 7-26-2022 by L.L. No. 30-2022]
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Shall be as defined in § 103-a of the New York
Open Meetings Law.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See § 103-a of the Public Officers
Law.
A.
All public bodies of the County are authorized to use videoconferencing
to conduct their meetings in accordance with the provisions of § 103-a
of the New York Open Meetings Law, provided that a minimum number
of members of the public body are present to fulfill the public body's
quorum requirement in the same physical location or locations where
the public can attend and the following criteria are met:
(1)
The public body's members shall be physically present at any
meeting of the public body unless such member is unable to be physically
present at one of the designated public meeting locations due to extraordinary
circumstances, including disability, illness, caregiving responsibilities,
or any other significant or unexpected factor or event which precludes
the member's physical attendance at such meeting.
(2)
If a member is unable to be physically present at one of the designated
public meeting locations and wishes to participate by videoconferencing
from a private location due to extraordinary circumstances, the member
must notify the Chair or any other designated representative of the
public body in advance of the scheduled meeting in order for proper
notice to the public to be given.
(3)
If there is a quorum of members participating at a physical location(s)
open to the public, the public body may properly convene a meeting.
A member who is participating from a remote location that is not open
to in-person physical attendance by the public shall not count toward
a quorum of the public body but may participate and vote if there
is a quorum of members at a physical location(s) open to the public.
(4)
Except in the case of executive sessions conducted pursuant to § 105
of the New York Open Meetings Law, the public body shall ensure that
its members can be heard, seen, and identified while the meeting is
being conducted, including but not limited to any motions, proposals,
resolutions, and any other matter formally discussed or voted upon.
(5)
The minutes of the meetings involving videoconferencing based on
extraordinary circumstances pursuant to New York Open Meetings Law
§ 103-a shall include which, if any, members participated
by videoconferencing from a private location due to such extraordinary
circumstances.
(6)
For any meeting for which videoconferencing based on extraordinary
circumstances is to be used to conduct the meeting, the public notice
for the meeting shall inform the public: i) that extraordinary circumstances
videoconferencing will (or may) be used, ii) where the public can
view and/or participate in such meeting, iii) where required documents
and records will be posted or available, and iv) the physical location(s)
for the meeting where the public can attend.
(7)
The public body shall provide that each open portion of any meeting
conducted using extraordinary circumstances videoconferencing shall
be recorded and such recordings posted or linked on the public body
website within five business days following the meeting and shall
remain so available for a minimum of five years thereafter. Such recordings
shall be transcribed upon request.
(8)
If members of the public body are authorized to participate by videoconferencing
from a private location due to extraordinary circumstances, the public
body shall provide the opportunity for members of the public to view
such meeting by video and to participate in proceedings by videoconference
in real time where public comment or participation is authorized.
The public body shall ensure that where extraordinary circumstances
videoconferencing is used, it authorizes the same public participation
or testimony as in-person participation or testimony.
(9)
A County public body electing to utilize videoconferencing under
this article to conduct its meetings must maintain an official website
and must post these procedures on the public body's website.
B.
The in-person participation requirements of New York Open Meetings Law § 103-a(2)(c) shall not apply during a state disaster emergency declared by the New York State Governor pursuant to New York Executive Law § 28 or a local state of emergency proclaimed by the County Executive pursuant to § 24 of the New York Executive Law if the public body determines that the circumstances necessitating the emergency declaration would affect or impair the ability of the public body to hold an in-person meeting.
C.
This article shall not apply to the County Legislature and any committees
or subcommittees of the County Legislature.
