FOAA Training Vs FOAA Coverage

Training for: Legal Notes

Question: Maine’s Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) requires training for some municipal officials, but not others. Does that mean that FOAA’s public meeting rules only apply to meetings of officials who are subject to the training requirement?

Answer: No. FOAA’s training requirements apply to officials and members of standing committees who the Legislature believes encounter FOAA regularly. The training requirements have absolutely no bearing on whether a particular meeting is subject to FOAA’s public meeting requirements.

Maine’s FOAA applies to all “public proceedings,” broadly defined to mean the transaction of any function by a public body or agency affecting any or all citizens of the State. 1 M.R.S. § 402(2). On the municipal level, this includes regular and special meetings of virtually all municipal boards, committees, panels, commissions, and subcommittees, and includes work sessions, workshops, strategy meetings, and any other informal meeting of a municipal board or committee, where board business is discussed, even if no decisions will be made or no formal action will be taken at the meeting.

Municipal committee members not subject to the training requirement (e.g., boards of appeals; conservation commissions; comprehensive planning, road advisory or ordinance committees, etc.) must still comply with FOAA’s meeting notice and public access rules if they conduct a public proceeding.

We are not sure how this misunderstanding arose; possibly as a result of recent legislation expanding the training requirement to a much wider group of municipal officials.

Currently, on the municipal level the training requirement applies to municipal officers (select board, councilors, plantation assessors); municipal clerks, treasurers, assessors, code enforcement officers, managers, administrators, and deputies for all those positions; planning board members; budget committee members; public access officers; and school board and committee members. 1 M.R.S. § 412.

For more information on all aspects of the FOAA, see MMA Legal Services’ Right to Know Information Packet available free to members on our website (www.memun.org). (By S.F.P.)

Question: Maine’s Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) requires training for some municipal officials, but not others. Does that mean that FOAA’s public meeting rules only apply to meetings of officials who are subject to the training requirement?

Answer: No. FOAA’s training requirements apply to officials and members of standing committees who the Legislature believes encounter FOAA regularly. The training requirements have absolutely no bearing on whether a particular meeting is subject to FOAA’s public meeting requirements.

Maine’s FOAA applies to all “public proceedings,” broadly defined to mean the transaction of any function by a public body or agency affecting any or all citizens of the State. 1 M.R.S. § 402(2). On the municipal level, this includes regular and special meetings of virtually all municipal boards, committees, panels, commissions, and subcommittees, and includes work sessions, workshops, strategy meetings, and any other informal meeting of a municipal board or committee, where board business is discussed, even if no decisions will be made or no formal action will be taken at the meeting.

Municipal committee members not subject to the training requirement (e.g., boards of appeals; conservation commissions; comprehensive planning, road advisory or ordinance committees, etc.) must still comply with FOAA’s meeting notice and public access rules if they conduct a public proceeding.

We are not sure how this misunderstanding arose; possibly as a result of recent legislation expanding the training requirement to a much wider group of municipal officials.

Currently, on the municipal level the training requirement applies to municipal officers (select board, councilors, plantation assessors); municipal clerks, treasurers, assessors, code enforcement officers, managers, administrators, and deputies for all those positions; planning board members; budget committee members; public access officers; and school board and committee members. 1 M.R.S. § 412.

For more information on all aspects of the FOAA, see MMA Legal Services’ Right to Know Information Packet available free to members on our website (www.memun.org). (By S.F.P.)