I was covering a local township Planning Commission meeting recently and one planner asked if the group could simply start emailing each other back and forth outside of meetings to create wind and solar ordinances to avoid “a four-hour meeting.”
News Editor Elisabeth Waldon
ewaldon@thedailynews.cc
Another planner responded with the belief that deliberating this way via text was probably OK, but not via email.
I then spoke up to explain how the Open Meetings Act works. The planners seemed genuinely interested in listening and wanting to conduct their meetings and actions correctly. (I’m not naming the specific Planning Commission — this time — as many of its members are newly appointed and I honestly believe the OMA process is new to them.)
A friendly reminder: According to the Michigan Attorney General’s OMA handbook (which all township officials should review at least a few times per year), OMA provides that “all…
