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![handle is hein.sag/sagfl0034 and id is 1 raw text is: Page lof3
Florida Attorney General
Advisory Legal Opinion
Number: INFORMAL
Date: January 12, 2009
Subject: Public forum hosted by city council member
Mr. David Jove
Hallandale Beach City Attorney
400 South Federal Highway
Hallandale Beach, Florida 33009-6422
Dear Mr. Jove:
You ask whether a forum hosted by a city council member in which the
public will be invited to attend and which other council members may
attend and discuss matters which may foreseeably come before the
city commission for action should be publicly noticed, and if so, by
whom.
The Government in the Sunshine Law, section 286.011, Florida
Statutes, provides a right of access to governmental proceedings at
both the state and local levels. There are three basic requirements
of section 286.011: (1) meetings of public boards or commissions
must be open to the public; (2) reasonable notice of such meetings
must be given; and (3) minutes of the meetings must be taken.
As you are aware, the Sunshine Law extends to the discussions and
deliberations as well as the formal action taken by a public board
or commission. There is no requirement that a quorum be present for
a meeting of members of a public board or commission to be subject
to section 286.011, Florida Statutes. Rather, the statute is
applicable to any gathering, whether formal or casual, of two or
more members of the same board or commission to discuss some matter
on which foreseeable action will be taken by the public board or
commission.[1] As the court recognized in Times Publishing Company
v. Williams,[2) it is the how and the why officials decided to so
act which interests the public, not merely the final decision:
Every thought, as well as every affirmative act, of a public
official as it relates to and is within the scope of his official
duties, is a matter of public concern; and it is the entire decision
-making process that the legislature intended to affect by the
enactment of the statute before us. (emphasis supplied in original)](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.sag/sagfl0034&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)