Resident to Council - Commit to Open Meetings, Or Face Litigation

Nazareth resident Bernie O'Hare, this morning made a post to his blog (Lehigh Valley Ramblings) that stated he had submitted a letter to Mayor Keller, Council, and Solicitor Pierce requesting them to committ to open meetings in full compliance with the PA State Sunshine Law or face litigation. In the letter copied on the post he wrote:

The committments requested were as follows based on a copy of the letter also posted:
To avoid litigation, I am asking that you make the following commitments before August 9:

1. You must agree that ALL future meetings of Council and its committees will be conducted in compliance with the Sunshine Act, i.e. committee hearings will be publicly advertised and open to the public;

2. You must reschedule every Committee hearing at which any official action was taken concerning the new government center, including the decision to hire an architect to prepare plans for a municipal expansion at Nazareth Hall Park, and conduct new hearings with public notice and public participation;

3. You must table any further consideration of a municipal building expansion until the committee has conducted one or more meetings that comply with the Sunshine Act, and that gives the public an opportunity to discuss options in addition to the sacrifice of Nazareth Hall Park.

The August 9 deadline is provided because the PA State Sunshine Law requires any challenge to be made within 30 days of learning a violation has occurred. It was at the July 10, 2006 Business Meeting of the Council that I raised the question in regard to the public announcement of meetings and where in Solicitor Pierce provided his interpretation of the law.

Further the Committments' points are based on the potential penalities if Council is found in violation of the Sunshine Law, as noted in the post I made Sunshine Law part III.

Read previous posts on this issue:
Sunshine Law - Part III
Express-Times' Turkey to Nazareth Solicitor
Sunshine Law - Part II
Sunshine Law - Part I