Executive session or public meeting? Questions remain about Centre County’s reopening decision
After much debate, Centre County will reopen Friday, but there are still some lingering questions about how that decision was made.
The county was initially on the list to move into the green phase, which eases most restrictions of the stay-at-home order, but the commissioners asked the governor’s office last week to remain in yellow, citing concerns for residents’ safety at the June 2 primary election.
Using the weekend to consult state Department of Health officials, the board on Tuesday rescinded the initial request to delay, and Centre County will reopen Friday — as originally planned.
But, questions about the decision-making process haven’t gone away, with commissioners set to decide Thursday if minutes from last week’s last-minute meeting should be made public.
90 minutes to deliberate on going green
Gov. Tom Wolf told reporters Friday that he honored a request from the commissioners to delay Centre County’s reopening, but the board voiced frustration with the state’s decision-making process — citing poor communication and limited county resources.
The governor “laughing off” the decision to delay didn’t accurately represent the board’s concerns, Commissioner Michael Pipe said.
While the overall decision to reopen a county is made by the governor, that decision includes input from state and local officials, a spokeswoman said.
“The phased reopening process has included feedback from local governments to help inform and make decisions that are best for their communities, but the final decision on reopening is ultimately made at the state level and is guided by the criteria outlined in the phased reopening plan,” Press Secretary Lyndsay Kensinger wrote in an email Tuesday.
Pipe said he was contacted by Wolf’s office at 12:17 p.m. Friday about the county moving into the “green phase” of the state’s reopening plan. Prior to the governor’s 4 p.m. press conference, all three commissioners met twice by phone for a combined total of 30 minutes to discuss the transition.
The commissioners had 90 minutes to respond to the governor’s request, so they met by phone and discussed for 21 minutes, according to Pipe. The second phone call was held outside of the governor’s window, he said.
No public comment, notice of meeting to discuss reopening?
Deliberating between an executive session — a closed meeting — or a public hearing — a meeting where public comment is allowed — the board was divided Tuesday on how to classify the calls, as both types of meetings must adhere to specific guidelines. With public hearings, minutes that outline what occurred should be made public.
The meetings were not advertised publicly prior to being held.
“The devil is always in the details when we talk about the ability to (notify) the public or not,” county solicitor Elizabeth Dupuis said Tuesday. “In my mind, it was an executive session. The three of you met. You did not deliberate. There was no decision that came out of it, and the concerns that were raised ... were largely related to personnel issues — election workers, personnel.”
On Tuesday, Higgins supported the solicitor’s recommendation because the short notice made it nearly impossible to hold an open meeting. Dershem agreed, saying that he expected the conversation to be more of an “informational” discussion.
Last month, Wolf signed Act 15 of 2020 into law. This legislation gave governing bodies the flexibility to meet remotely by telecommunication during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the declaration creates leeway for emergency circumstances, Dupuis said it does not account for strict deadlines.
“I don’t think there was time to make it public in the sense of what you had, and the emergency part of the declaration doesn’t necessarily cover this kind of an emergency,” Dupuis said. “This was made an emergency on you because the state chose to wait until the last minute to call you.”
What qualifies as an executive session?
Under the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act, agencies are required to deliberate and hold open, public meetings before taking official action on an item. In order for a meeting to be classified as public, it must be advertised prior to its occurrence, so community members can attend and participate.
Agencies must record the time, date and place of public meetings. Minutes are also required to list all members of the public who participated along with a summary of their comments.
Executive sessions are private meetings used to discuss personnel issues, public safety or legal matters. If an agency meets in executive session, a specific reason must be publicly announced before or directly after the session is held.
No one was present to take minutes in an official capacity, Pipe said, but the board is considering publishing minutes based on notes he took after — a decision Pipe supports.
No decision to reopen was made by the board of commissioners; the board was responding to an inquiry, Dupuis said, adding that the conversation pertained to poll workers and the election.
Pennsylvania Office of Open Records Executive Director Erik Arneson isn’t sure the meeting qualifies as an executive session.
“The Sunshine Act does not include any provision that says you can deliberate as an executive session simply because there’s a time crunch,” Arenson said. “There are some provisions about emergency meetings, but those aren’t really time crunch meetings. They are actual emergencies, along with a pandemic, a flood, a huge snow storm — something like that.”
Poll workers pose an “interesting” challenge for executive session guidelines, Arneson said, because they do not meet the traditional personnel definition.
But, Centre County does pay poll workers about $125 for working on election day and considers them “elected and appointed officials,” Higgins said. The county also covers all training expenses and reimburses a worker if their cell phone number is used as a contact throughout the day.
“You can’t go on to discuss other issues, such as moving a county from yellow status to green status or red status to yellow status, unless there is an exception for emergency preparedness and public safety,” he said. “Moving from yellow to green status does not, by my reading, fall into that reason for an executive session.”
The board will vote Thursday on approving the minutes. If approved, they will be published online.
This story was originally published May 27, 2020 at 11:08 AM.
