Monday, December 18, 2006

Legal Okay given to NOT advertise public meetings!

G.W. -- a Running Mate like few others -- sent me this letter. Here is a snip.
Friends of the Zeiss On Monday, City Council held a “Post-Agenda” session on funding for The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. As with all Post-Agenda sessions, this session was open to the general public. This was also one of the relatively few Post-Agenda sessions that was broadcast on the City’s Government Communications Cable Television Channel, City Channel Pittsburgh, on Comcast channel 13.

However, I only found out about this Post-Agenda session, inadvertently, when two people who attended the December 5 regular legislative session of City Council, where the Post-Agenda time and date was announced, informed me of the meeting. I did not attend the December 5 meeting, as I was scheduled to attend another meeting at that time.

As with many of the Post-Agenda sessions held in the past, the December 11 Post-Agenda included discussion of important City business, including the request for significant City funding from a major City institution. Yet few people knew this Post-Agenda would occur since it was not posted or advertised in any public location.

I discussed this matter with the City Clerk, and she informs me that the City Law Department has told her that posting or advertising the date and time of Post-Agenda sessions is not legally required. I would disagree with this legal interpretation.

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