Mrs.

[Guest Mrs. White]

Hi,

I'm a member of a local school board.  I have a situation I could use some assistance with:

Several weeks ago, we were called to an emergency meeting by the Chair at the request of the Superintendant regarding potential litigation against a current SB member.  4 of the 9 members were in attendance.  We knew we had no quorum and we also knew we could not take action, however we all thought we could still discuss the matter and not take action until we had a quorum.  However, the Chair made motions to enter into NP under 91-A:3, II (e) as she thought we needed to do this to even have a discussion.  The motions taken were to go into NP, out of NP and to Seal the meetings informal notes. 

We have since had a NP to discuss this and the missteps taken during that meeting- The informal notes taken during the meeting have two major errors.  These notes have been redacted to protect attorney/ client privilege and are being "preserved as a public government record"

I have several questions: 

1.)  Since this meeting did not constitute a true meeting, do these notes need to preserved?  

1a) If so, how can ensure these two errors are corrected?

2. ) Is it necessary to keep these notes redacted under 91-A:3, II (e), even though this statute does not apply to SB members?

 

Thank you!

 

 

 

[Hieu H. Huynh]

Questions regarding statutes are beyond the scope of this forum.

[Guest Who's Coming to Dinner]

1 hour ago, Guest Mrs. White said:

1.)  Since this meeting did not constitute a true meeting, do these notes need to preserved?  

1a) If so, how can ensure these two errors are corrected?

2. ) Is it necessary to keep these notes redacted under 91-A:3, II (e), even though this statute does not apply to SB members?

1. If the meeting was properly called according to your bylaws and applicable statutes, then it was a "true" meeting notwithstanding the lack of quorum and should have minutes.

1a. The minutes should be read and corrected (in executive session) at your next meeting.

2. This is a question for your attorney.

[Richard Brown]

I agree with dinner guest in the sense that if this was a properly called meeting, then the meeting did in fact take place and should have been called to order and then adjourned due to lack of a quorum.

The minutes should reflect just that:  that the meeting was called to order at such-and-such a time, that the chair noted the absence of a quorum, and the meeting then adjourned due to the lack of a quorum. That is all that needs to go in the minutes and is probably all that should go into the minutes. None of the other stuff that took place belongs in the minutes unless your Society is subject to some superior law or rule that requires it

Whatever else took place did not take place in a meeting of the society. Members are free to hang around and discuss whatever they want to and even take votes to express their thoughts, but all of that is outside of a meeting context and is not at all binding on the assembly. They can call it a meeting, a conclave, a brainstorming session, or whatever they want to call it, but it is not a meeting of the society. It is just a bunch of members hanging around discussing the society. It is no different from the members leaving the meeting Hall and going to the nearest bar and having a bull session about the society.

BTW, what does it mean to "enter into NP"?  What is an "NP"?

I would add that if this is a public body, your State's open meetings laws or some other law might have something to say about how many of you can gather outside of a meeting to discuss school board affairs. However, RONR has no such prohibition.

[Guest Who's Coming to Dinner]

"Nonpublic session" in the parlance of New Hampshire state law.