2. Special or emergency meetings

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The Open Meetings Law applies to all meetings of public bodies. See Colo. Rev. Stat. § 24-6-402(1)(b). No distinction is made between regular and special meetings.

The statute applicable to meetings of boards of education provides that all regular and special meetings of the board shall be open to the public. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 22-32-108(5).

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Open meeting requirements apply to both special and emergency meetings, subject to particular exceptions discussed infra.  D.C. Code Ann. § 2-574(1).

The Sunshine Law does not prescribe particular rules for special or emergency meetings.  Such meetings must therefore comply with the general requirements of the Sunshine Law.  See section re “Categories of meetings subject to the law” above.

Special or emergency meetings are subject to special notice requirements. O.C.G.A. § 50-14-1(d)(2)-(3).

The following must be contained in memoranda of a public meeting: the date, time and place of the meeting; the members of the governing body either present or absent; the general substance of all matters proposed, discussed or decided; a record of all votes taken, and by individual members if there is a roll call. Ind. Code § 5-14-1.5-4(b).

Minutes are public record. The Open Door Law specifically provides that the memoranda are to be available within a reasonable period of time and the minutes, if any, are to be open for public inspection and copying. “Reasonable period of time” is not defined by the Act. Ind. Code § 5-14-1.5-4(c).

Public agencies may assume a duty to amend their minutes when they acknowledge technical errors. See State ex rel. Wineholt v. LaPorte Superior Ct. No. 2, 230 N.E.2d 92, 94–95 (Ind. 1967). Agencies have a right to amend their minutes so long as no intervening vested rights are involved. Id. at 96.

The Open Meetings Act provisions dealing with “special” and “emergency” meetings are at Ky. Rev. Stat. 61.823.

The Act makes no distinction between regular, special, emergency, formal, or informal meetings. See City of New Carrollton v. Rogers, 287 Md. 56, 410 A.2d 1070 (1980); but see § 3-302.1(b) (requiring that a public body must make available, upon request, the agenda of a meeting called in response to an emergency, natural disaster, or other unanticipated situation).

There is no specific requirement related to notice of special or emergency meetings, and there is no Montana Supreme Court decision on that issue.

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No specific provisions for notice of special or emergency meetings. However, the requirement to provide notice “at least 24 hours prior” to a meeting does not apply whenever “for good cause such notice is impossible or impractical, in which case shorter notice may be given but in no case may the notice be provided less than 2 hours in advance of the meeting.” Wis. Stat. § 19.84(3).