All right, everyone, let's call this last work session to order.

Um, so it is uh currently two oh eight.

It is Friday, May eighth.

We are noticed from two PM to three PM in this room, and the purpose of this work session is a training for members on the open meetings act.

So we again will do introductions, um, and then we will turn it over to our presenter.

So uh starting with Miss Park.

Sydney Scout.

Daniel Bowen.

Anna Brawley, and do we have any members on the phone?

Not any currently.

Um, and then we are also joined by uh clerk staff, assembly council, a couple of members of the public.

And again, we will turn to Mr.

Bazell to uh start the presentation.

So go ahead.

Thank you.

Um, so I again everybody, obviously, I'm Jeff.

Uh, let's get started.

So each state has laws requiring that all meetings of a public entity's governing bodies be both open to the public, and secondly, that these bodies provide reasonable notice of their meetings.

In some states, these types of laws are called sunshine laws, as the laws intended to shine a light on and bring transparency to our government.

Here in Alaska, this state simply calls its laws open meeting laws.

Alaska's first open meetings act has been in effect since 1959, which if you know your Alaska history was when Alaska became a state.

So, as an example, here in a bit when we talk about the definition of a governmental body, we're talking about how the state of Alaska's statute defines governmental body versus how any other states do.

So this training is going to be a bit municipality-specific as well.

Besides looking at the state's open meetings law, we'll also be weaving in how our code has been updated to further bring us into compliance with ensuring open meetings.

The municipality just this last year passed Assembly Ordinance twenty twenty-five ninety-one, an ordinance that updates and amends our code concerning public meetings.

You can find this newly updated code titled public meetings in chapter 1.25 of our code.

We'll be accompanying looking at the state's rules with these recent changes to our code throughout this short training.

Now, we're not going to spend all of our time together reciting statute and code, but we do want you to be familiar with the actual language of the Alaska's Open Meeting Act.

So kick back while I read a little prose to you.

From Alaska Statute 4462310 through 312, it is the policy of the state that governmental units exist to aid in the conduct of the people's business, and that actions of those units be taken openly and that their deliberation be conducted openly, that the people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies that serve them, that the people in delegating authority do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know, and that the people's right to remain informed shall be protected so that they may retain control over the instruments that they have created.

Exceptions shall be construed narrowly in order to effectuate the policy and to avoid exemptions from open meetings requirements and thus unnecessary executive sessions.

All right, before we move on, just another note.

And that statutes reject the argument that only the moments of ultimate decision must be subject to public scrutiny.

It requires the preliminary deliberations be open as well.

And to conclude our reading time together, all meetings of a governmental body of a public entity of the state are open to the public except as otherwise provided by this section or another provision of law.

All right, let's get started breaking all that down by first defining two key terms.

How the state defines governmental body and then how it defines meeting.

Before we get started, though, know that our code has very similar definitions.

Only over in our world, besides the term meeting, we use the term municipal body.

Well, be it governmental body or municipal body, if you understand one, you'll certainly understand the other.

All right, I wish I could give you a simple definition of governmental body that applies to everybody across the board, but there's actually three different ways that governmental bodies defined.

Some parts apply to some and some to others.

To begin with, an assembly, council, board, commission committee, or other similar body that has the authority to establish policy or make decisions, is considered a governmental body.

And of course, the Anchorage Assembly is a prime example of this type of governmental body.

And on the same note, the Anchorage Assembly is also viewed as a municipal body.

Secondly, so this applies to an assembly, council board, commission, committee, or other similar body that has the authority to advise or make recommendations.

They're also considered a governmental body.

The Senior Citizens Advisory Commission would be such an example.

And they could also be referred to as a municipal body.

The last part may seem slightly confusing because it stems from the first two parts.

A governmental body could include members of a subcommittee or other subordinate units from a governmental body, if the subordinate unit consists of two or more members.

So, what that means is that either of those first two types of governmental bodies, they could have a subcommittee or subordinate unit under it.

Notice in this type of governmental body, though, we're given a numerical value of two or more members.

So what we've got here, guys, is three different types of governmental bodies.

They're all governmental bodies, they just all essentially have kind of different powers and makeup.

You're the first type, the authority to establish policy or make decisions.

Now let's look at what defines a meeting.

Before we begin, though, keep in mind that these definitions of meeting are different from what we just talked about in our Roberts Rules training when it comes to needing a quorum to have a valid meeting for conducting business.

So if you remember, that was when we needed seven members to have a valid assembly meeting, or we needed a majority of members of a committee to have a quorum there.

That was all just about having a quorum.