You also asked for the minutes of executive sessions held on July 14 and September 22, 1997. Those minutes were not at issue in the Chancery Court litigation. Since the decision is discretionary, a public body could, as long as the need for protection of the records exists, follow a uniform rule of not disclosing the minutes of executive session under any circumstances. However, once the public body determines that disclosure would no longer defeat the purpose of the executive session and that the record may be publicly disclosed, availability must be permitted in a consistent and fair manner. When the agency exercises its permissive disclosure authority, public inspection follows.
Records are completely public or completely confidential.
The Public Records Act denies public officials any power to pick and choose the recipients of disclosure. This distinction is untenable. FOIA only requires a citizen to request reasonable access to inspect and copy records. The FOIA request itself triggers the requirement that the public body follow its normal procedures to determine whether the records may be made available to the public. Once the Council decided to release the complete minutes to Ms. Shurtleff, the minutes became a public record for all purposes and should have been provided to you as well.