Court Opinion

ID: 9694539
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 17:45:52.939491+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:03.132367
License: Public Domain

NARICK, Senior Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I reject the Petitioner’s first position that the Board’s decision was invalid because it was allegedly illegally constituted. However, I respectfully dissent that the Board violated the Sunshine Act in approving the Area 5 order when two members of the three member Board participated in and voted over speaker phones. There is no dispute that in compliance with the Act the Board gave notice to the public and all interested parties of the proposed meeting; that a meeting was held wherein the Board members along with persons in attendance at the meeting participated in the deliberations and thereafter the *629Board conducted its vote in which three votes were publicly cast approving the Area 5 order.
There is nothing in the statute that refers to or prohibits voting by telephone. Nor has any case been cited that prohibits voting in a properly noticed public meeting in which Board members and attendees are present and a vote is taken by telephone. I view this as a case of first impression which may affect other administrative agencies taking official actions and voting by speaker telephones assuming compliance in all other respects with the requirements of the Act, i.e. notice to the public and interested parties and full participation by the Board members and attendees. Further, the action of the Board in my view is not inconsistent with the findings of the Act in assuring the enhancement of the Democratic process “that secrecy in public affairs undermines the faith of the public in government and the public’s effectiveness in fulfilling its role in a democratic society.” Section 2 of the Sunshine Act, Act of July 3, 1986, P.L. 388, as amended, 65 P.S. § 272. The Board’s action herein clearly was not conducted in secrecy.