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![handle is hein.sag/sagfl0104 and id is 1 raw text is:
Florida Attorney General
Advisory Legal Opinion
Number: INFORMAL
Date: January 7, 2019
Subject: Open meetings, advisory group
Ms. Angela J. Wallace
Deputy County Attorney
115 South Andrews Avenue, Suite 423
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301
Dear Ms. Wallace:
This office has received your letter requesting an opinion as to whether an advisory
group formed by Broward County Mayor Mark Bogen is subject to the public meetings
law. Attorney General Pam Bondi has asked me to respond to your question.
Section 286.011, Florida Statutes (2018), provides, in part:
(1) All meetings of any board or commission of any state agency or authority or of any
agency or authority of any county, municipal corporation, or political subdivision, except
as otherwise provided in the Constitution, including meetings with or attended by any
person elected to such board or commission, but who has not yet taken office, at which
official acts are to be taken are declared to be public meetings open to the public at all
times, and no resolution, rule, or formal action shall be considered binding except as
taken or made at such meeting. The board or commission must provide reasonable
notice of all such meetings.
(3)(a) Any public officer who violates any provision of this section is guilty of a
noncriminal infraction, punishable by fine not exceeding $500.
You state that the Broward County Commission would not establish the advisory group,
nor would the Commission delegate any authority to Mayor Bogen regarding such
group. Instead, Mayor Bogen alone would create the advisory committee to provide
feedback to him regarding issues of importance to his constituents. In addition, the
group would only consist of volunteers from his Commission district[.] In the first place,
advisory groups appointed by a single public official are not immunized from the public-
meetings requirement. It is the nature of their functions rather than the manner of
their appointment that must be scrutinized.[1] Nor is there an exception for a group
composed of volunteers.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.sag/sagfl0104&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)