Editor’s Note: Below are excerpts from June 30, 2023 Times Argus editorial by Steve Pappas.
Transparency in government is key to its function and integrity. Whether it is making public meetings and spaces open to everyone, or it is holding hard discussions in public session.
Recently, the Barre Diversity and Equity Committee objected to committee members recording their proceedings. The committee chair argued that the work being done needs certain protections to be thoughtful and thorough.
That got the attention of the New England First Amendment Coalition and the Vermont Press Association. They fired off a letter to the committee members (and the mayor and city manager) “to express our shared concern” over the push for committee members to stop recording the meetings. (There was no objection to the local public access station, recording and rebroadcasting the same committee meeting.)
The First Amendment advocates noted that recording is not only a common practice for meetings of public bodies throughout Vermont, it is required under the state’s Open Meetings Law: “A public body shall electronically record all public hearings held to provide a forum for public comment on a proposed rule.”
In its 2019 Guide to Open Meetings, the Vermont Secretary of State’s office declared “the open meeting law to permit members of the public to record or film public meetings, so long as this is not done in a manner that disrupts the meeting.”
They point out that the Open Meeting Law was drafted in the spirit of Article VI of the state constitution: “That all power being originally inherent in and co(n)sequently derived from the people, therefore, all officers of government, whether legislative or executive, are their trustees and servants; and at all times, in a legal way, accountable to them.”
The Open Meeting Law states: “(P)ublic commissions, boards, and councils and other public agencies in this State exist to aid in the conduct of the people’s business and are accountable to them pursuant to (Article VI).”
That being stated, “To be truly accountable to the public under Article VI, public bodies such as the Barre Diversity and Equity Committee must submit themselves to scrutiny by the public. Allowing the public to record these meetings facilitates this key constitutional value.”
We always will advocate for open government. Transparency breeds accountability and its own code of conduct. How public officials want to pivot to hard conversations and criticism is up to them, but it should be done in the open.
