Opinion ID: 1522067
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Posting Requirements

Text: Vamarie also challenges the manner in which the City posted its notice, arguing that the time and place of the posting did not comply with subsections (c) and (h) of section 3A of the Open Meetings Act. Subsection (c) provides: (c) A city governmental body shall have a notice posted on a bulletin board to be located at a place convenient to the public in the city hall. Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 6252-17, § 3A(c) (Vernon Supp.1991). Subsection (h) provides, in pertinent part: (h) Notice of a meeting must be posted in a place readily accessible to the general public at all times for at least 72 hours preceding the scheduled time of the meeting. Id. § 3A(h). The City posted the agenda for the February 15, 1990 City Council meeting on a bulletin board inside the City Hall on February 12, 1990, more than 72 hours prior to the meeting. Since the City Hall building is locked each night, this notice was not continuously available to the public between the time it was posted and the time of the meeting. At about the same time as the bulletin board posting, the agenda was also posted on a kiosk located on the City Hall grounds directly in front of the main or east entrance to the building. This kiosk (see photograph below) is a foursided structure about the same size and shape as an old-fashioned telephone booth. Notices are posted behind glass panes that cover the four sides of the structure, each page of a notice posted separately. Although the kiosk itself is unlighted, there are several street lights near the front entrance to the City Hall, which is located on a major downtown street. The City contends that subsections (c) and (h) were satisfied by this double posting. It maintains that the requirement of posting notice at a place convenient to the public inside the City Hall was satisfied by the bulletin board posting, while the separate requirement of posting notice in a place readily accessible to the general public at all times for at least 72 hours before the scheduled meeting was satisfied by the kiosk posting. The court of appeals disagreed, holding that subsections (c) and (h) of section 3A must be read together to require a single notice and to prescribe an exclusive place to post such notice, i.e., inside the City Hall. 793 S.W.2d at 752. Thus, the court interpreted (c) and (h) to require the City to post one notice inside the City Hall at least 72 hours before the scheduled meeting time and then to keep the City Hall open to the public at all times. Since the City conceded that the City Hall was not open to the public at all times during the 72-hour period before the February 15 meeting, the court of appeals held that the City had failed to comply with the Act. Id. at 753. The court of appeals believed that its reading of the Act was exact and literal. See Acker, 790 S.W.2d at 300. 16] We disagree. A literal reading of the statute compels the opposite result. Subsection (h) provides: Notice of a meeting must be posted in a place readily accessible to the general public at all times.... No place is specified. Notice of a meeting is phrased in nonrestrictive terms, i.e., the notice described is not restricted to be the same notice as that mentioned in subsection (c) (as it might be if the statute read: The notice of a meeting). The legislature could easily have written subsection (h) to relate back to subsection (c), but it did not do so. Therefore, the legislative scheme does not require a single notice that must satisfy both subsections but permits dual notice. Vamarie, however, points out that subsection (c) does not contain a specific time requirement and subsection (h) does not contain a specific place requirement and argues that construing these provisions as separate requirements could therefore lead to abuse. For example, the Act could arguably be satisfied by a posting in the City Hall one hour before the meeting, plus a posting in an inconvenient public place far from the City Hall for 72 hours. These concerns are groundless. Any such unreasonable postings would not comport with the purpose of the Act, that is, to assure that the public has the opportunity to be informed concerning the transactions of public business. Acker, 790 S.W.2d at 300 (quoting Act of May 8, 1967, 60th Leg., R.S., ch. 271, § 7, 1967 Tex.Gen.Laws 597, 598). Thus, although subsection (c) contains no specific time requirement, any notice posted under this subsection must be posted for a sufficient period of time to ensure that the public has the opportunity to read it. Furthermore, subsection (h) specifically requires that the 72-hour posting place be readily accessible to the general public, not in an obscure or remote location. It is the approach urged by Vamarie and adopted by the court of appeals, rather than the City's position, which strains common sense and will more likely result in abuse. Many, if not most, cities are ill able to afford the additional security and utility costs which an open door policy for the nocturnally curious would require. Before we mandate such an extravagant use of public resources, we should require a clear and unequivocal expression in the statutory language that the legislature intended such a result. Absent a clear legislative directive, a statute should not be construed so as to produce an absurd or foolish result if it is reasonably susceptible of an alternative construction. See Griffin v. Oceanic Contractors, Inc., 458 U.S. 564, 575, 102 S.Ct. 3245, 3252, 73 L.Ed.2d 973, 983 (1982); Stobnicki v. Textron, Inc., 868 F.2d 1460, 1463 (5th Cir.1989); McKinney v. Blankenship, 154 Tex. 632, 642, 282 S.W.2d 691, 698 (1955). Thus, whether we rely on the plain meaning of the statute or the policy underlying it, the City's postings satisfied the requirements of subsections (c) and (h). The first notice was posted on a bulletin board inside the City Hall more than 72 hours before the meeting, and the second notice was posted on the kiosk directly in front of the main entrance to City Hall more than 72 hours before the meeting. These twin postings made the notice readily accessible to members of the general public seeking information about City Council business at all times during the 72-hour period preceding the meeting.