By John A. Gallagher LMA Staff Attorney Legislation recently signed by Governor Foster now requires that all meetings of a public body provide an opportunity for public comment, subject to reasonable rules and restrictions adopted by the public body. The new law will affect how meetings of local municipal governing authorities will operate.
Many municipalities already provide for public comment at their own discretion.
Act 285 now makes this mandatory at all meetings subject to the state s Open Meetings Law, and applies to both regular and special meetings. The governing authorities, however, do have the ability to establish guidelines, such as setting time limits on public comments. To implement the mandate of this law, the LMA will be working with municipalities in establishing model guidelines.