A June 7th ruling from the State of Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board found that the Charles County Planning Commission and a subcommittee formed by the commission were in violation of the Open Meetings Act. Lou Grasso, who was chairman of the board, had little recollection of the events.
At issue was the subcommittee that was formed to address the Port Tobacco Environmental Recovery and Restoration Area, which would have changed the density requirements in Port Tobacco from one unit per three acres to three units per acre. The subcommittee send it to the planning commission by virtue of a motion made by then-Planning Commission Chairman Lou Grasso. Grasso said he was within his rights because, as chairman of the board, he is an exofficio. The planning commission acted on the recommendation of the subcommittee, but the proposal was ultimately killed by the Charles County Board of Commissioners.
The ruling states that the commission and the subcommittee failed to provide adequate public notice and did not employ their usual method of giving public notice. The ruling states that the commission must use its normal methods of giving public notice and that any committee meetings where members of the commission might attend must be listed as a meeting of the commission itself.
Debra Zimmerman Murphey of Port Tobacco brought the complaint before the state in February.
“I think the compliance board did the right thing and made the right decision,” Murphey said. “The most important part of this entire decision is the part where they mention that not adhering to usual method of giving public notice ‘gives the public the impression that the public body wishes to conduct its discussions out of the public eye’. I hope the public is mindful there are some of us in the community who are mindful and are watching when they are not transparent. I hope this forces them to give notice so these subcommittees are not meeting in conference rooms without public notice. I don’t understand why there was deviation from this process. It is clear these subcommittees are carrying out public business and they need to give public notice.”
Murphey had attended a January 4, 2011 subcommittee meeting because she had heard about it “through the grapevine”. She went to the county before filing the complaint with the state. Murphey also provided video documentation that Grasso made the motion and said he attended all the meetings.
The subcommittee also met on November 3rd and November 16th of 2010. The ruling found the oral notice given was insufficient, incomplete and last-minute.
“As chairman of the commission at the time, I attended as a normal course as an exofficio,” Grass
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