Hello, my name is (redacted) and I am a reporter with the Niagara Gazette. I wanted to get this organization’s opinion on something.
On the agenda for the March 14th meeting of the Village of Youngstown, there is an item stating that the board extended an existing short term rental moratorium by an email vote on 2/29/24, which extended it to Aug. 10.
I was unable to attend that meeting due to being out of town. I wanted to know if such a vote like that is legal and, if so, it can be used that way.
Hi Robert,
Thank you for your email. I looked at the Youngstown agenda and see that the meeting agenda states two items were approved by a previous email vote.
I have never seen a meeting agenda or meeting minutes state that a vote occurred by email. A public body voting by email is a violation of the NY State Open Meetings Law. The whole point of the Open Meetings Law is for the public to be able to attend, listen and observe their elected officials conducting public business in public. A valid village board meeting to take action on any item can only occur when a quorum of the board meets in public.
Below is an opinion by the NY Committee on Open Government on this issue.
https://docsopengovernment.dos.ny.gov/coog/otext/3447.htm
I would also note that just posting a two page meeting agenda without posting meeting documents is an additional violation of the Open Meetings Law. The Open Meetings Law requires meeting documents to be posted online at least 24 hours prior to a meeting. Whatever board packet the village board members have for the meeting should be posted online for the public to see. I find it hard to believe that village board members are coming to the meeting with only the two page agenda.
Thank you for the work you do as a reporter. Your taking the time to review meeting agendas is important and I hope that you will be writing an article regarding these violations of the Open Meetings Law. If you have any additional questions, please let me know.
