DECEMBER 15TH NOTIFICATION
Has your public body provided notice of next year’s regularly scheduled meetings to the City or Town Clerk? If not, you need to make sure that this is accomplished on or before December 15th. Section 311(A) of Title 25 of the Oklahoma Statutes provides in pertinent part:
All public bodies shall give notice in writing by December 15 of each calendar year of the schedule showing the date, time and place of the regularly scheduled meetings of such public bodies for the following calendar year…
All municipal public bodies, including, but not limited to, public trusts and any other bodies with the municipality as beneficiary, shall give such notice to the municipal clerk of the municipality wherein they are principally located;
Public bodies handle notification in different ways. Some pass resolutions and others simply approve the schedule. Either way, it is important that the public body take action and provide not just the dates, but also the time and place of the regularly scheduled meetings.
It is also important to ensure that public trusts are providing notice to the City or Town Clerk. If the trustees do not also serve as the elected officials for the public body and if the City or Town Clerk does not provide administrative support, this notification may be overlooked. That is particularly true if the attorney representing the trust is not a typical municipal practitioner.
As you are likely aware, any person who willfully violates the Act, including the notification provisions, can be charged with a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, be punished by a fine not to exceed Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) and/or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed one (1) year. 25 O.S. §314(A). Also, any action taken in violation of the Act is void. 25 O.S. §313.
It would be a shame to unravel an important act of a public body or a public trust because the annual notice requirements were not met. Addressing this action by resolution or other public action is not only required by the Act, but will increase transparency with the citizenry.