Open meetings laws are dissected

The legality of open meetings came into question once again at Evangeline Parish School Board meeting on September 16.. The issue was raised at the previous meeting when board member Mike Fontenot asked if the open meeting requirements to allow public comments were being met.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Fontenot cited the Louisiana Open Meetings law, which states, “No person shall be denied the right to observe the deliberations of public bodies and examine public documents, except in cases established by law.”
There are several exceptions to this law, one of which states, “Cases of extraordinary emergency, which shall be limited to natural disaster, threat of epidemic, civil disturbances, suppression of insurrections, the repelling of invasions, or other matters of similar magnitude.” Here, it appears COVID-19 and the state mandates for social distancing allow for school board meetings to close the doors to the public once the room reaches social distancing capacity.
Fontenot reiterated what he said at the previous meeting, “I’m concerned we don’t have the meetings out there on social media platforms for the public to see.” He said there was no call-in number given out to the public so they can join in via Zoom. After reaching out to the Attorney General’s office, Fontenot said he was told the board is “probably” not adhering to the law because they are limiting the number of people to 25 in the room and suggested either moving to a larger room to house the public. Another option from the Attorney General’s office was to have the public make requests for information on agenda items so they can be called during the meeting. Fontenot said the Attorney General’s office was not “keen” on locking the doors to the meeting room to limit the number of people. He requested putting the meetings out to the public, saying they have nothing to hide.
Board member Peggy Forman said she thought the meetings were always on Zoom for the public, but Fontenot said they were not. He said the meeting was on Facebook one time and on Zoom one time, but after that they did not make the meetings live on social media.
Superintendent Darwan Lazard said those meetings that were shared on social media were when the board was meeting virtually as part of the Governor’s proclamation. He said there are several principals and supervisors who need to be present at the meetings in case the board needs to ask them questions. Instead of having them take up space in the meeting room, Lazard has them monitor the meetings on Zoom.
Lazard seemed to take issue with Fontenot, who he believed said the school board meetings were breaking the law at the previous meeting. “My concern was at the last meeting, you made a statement that it was an illegal meeting. Just now you said [the Attorney General’s office] said it was ‘kind of’ illegal,” Lazard said to Fontenot.
Fontenot responded, “I would have to file a formal complaint to get a judgement from them, and I wasn’t at the point of doing that. I just want to see if we can start putting this information out there and giving it to the public.” He said the Attorney General’s office recommended using Zoom and pushing it through to Youtube like all the other districts.
School Board president Wayne Dardeau said he did not know if anyone from the public wanted to speak at the last meeting but they had ample opportunity. He said even before COVID-19, very few people joined the meeting unless there was something controversial.
“The problem is, Mr. Wayne, the past few meetings over here, where that door was locked, only 25 people were allowed in the room, and they are not allowing the public to come in and visit the meeting. That is illegal,” said Fontenot.
Dardeau replied, “The room is locked when we reach the maximum. We’ve had supervisors come to the meeting and wait outside. And if they needed them to answer questions, they would call them into the meeting and let them answer. If we had somebody who wanted to come speak in public they could sign a form.”
“One time the public came, and the door was locked,” said Fontenot. Lazard said Fontenot was referring to the time the board adopted the pandemic plan and people were waiting in the parking lot. At the time, the board allowed everyone time to speak by having them take turns. He said it would be a violation to allow more than the required social distancing capacity.
Fontenot said that is why the Attorney General’s office said for them to hold meetings in a larger room to have a larger capacity of people. “I just don’t understand what the deal is with not letting the public know what’s going on in our meeting. I’m going to tell you right now, I have a problem with the public asking me why is everything so hush-hush and quiet when we’re shutting everything down and only a limited number of people have access to Zoom and all this other stuff.”
Board member Nancy Hamlin suggested putting a loud speaker outside for the public to hear the meetings. Fontenot said they are still not posting Zoom call-in numbers on the agenda. Lazard asked board attorney Bob Hammonds if what the board is doing is illegal.
Hammonds said he consulted with an assistant attorney general and said it is not illegal. As long as board meetings are advertized, “beyond that, there is no requirement that any board meeting be televised, on Youtube or Zoom or any other method,” he said. Additionally he said when the board was holding virtual meetings they were obligated to share those meetings with the public, but now that the board is meeting in person, there is no obligation to inform the public how they can participate electronically. However, he did say the board can broadcast the meetings on social media if they so choose.
Fontenot asked Hammonds if it is proper to lock the doors during public meetings. Hammonds said he does not know the fire marshal’s rules on locking the door, but said they could opt to put someone at the door to prevent more people from entering when capacity has been maxed out. Hammonds also agreed with Hamlin’s suggestion of putting loud speakers for the public. “I don’t know how anybody is being denied the opportunity to speak anymore than they were denied the opportunity before there was COVID-19,” said Hammonds.
The board discussed it further and agreed to provide the Zoom number to the public in advance of each meeting. At this time, board member Nick Chaumot took the opportunity to commended the superintendent, saying every time he calls Lazard he either answers the phone or texts to let him know he will return his call and answers every question. “I think he does an excellent job. From what I see, he’s got a hundred percent of it under control. Nobody in this room knows what’s going on everyday because of COVID. It’s a learning process. From me to you, you’re doing a hell of a job,” said Chaumot. Everyone applauded the sentiment.