About Meetings (Including Open Meeting Law Changes)

Open Meeting Law (post COVID-19) Update  

All “public bodies” in the State of Vermont are required to comply with Vermont’s open meeting laws. These laws generally provide Vermonters with reasonable access to understand the actions of the public bodies acting on their behalf. Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Planning Commission is a political subdivision of the State of Vermont. This status makes it a “public body” subject to the requirements of Vermont’s open meeting laws.  This webpage is designed to allow TRORC to comply with the Requirements of that law by providing the public with information about the Vermont Open meeting law, providing a copy of the statute governing penalties and enforcement for violation of the open meeting laws and providing a complaint form explaining the process by which a person may submit to TRORC if they believe TRORC or any of its committees have violated any of the provisions of the open meeting law.

Please click here to review 1 V.S.A. 314, the portion of Vermont’s open meeting law providing enforcement remedies and penalties for failure to comply with the open meeting law.

To find out more information about Vermont’s Open Meeting Law, including a toolkit to help officials run effective and legal public meetings, please visit the Vermont League of Cities and Towns website. Or look at the presentation slides created by the Secretary of State. 

Public Meeting Procedures

Town officials must hold a variety of meetings. Most of these are public and there are rules about how they are conducted. 

Public meetings are the most common kind of meetings. These are meetings of any public body, which includes Selectboards, Development Review Boards (DRBs), Planning Commissions, Conservation Commissions and any other official body that has been appointed by the town, including subcommittees. These are all subject to Vermont’s Open Meeting Law. Meetings must have notice, an agenda, and a quorum present. For any motion to pass at a meeting a majority of the body (not a majority of those present) must vote in the affirmative. Emergency public meetings can be called on very short notice when needed. This year, the legislature has made changes to Vermont’s Open Meeting Law (written below the text titled, “Open Meeting Law (post-COVID-19) Update”). 

Executive Sessions are a special kind of public meeting that is not open to the public. They can only be held for certain reasons.

Public hearings are used by review bodies, such as the DRB, or when Planning Commissions or Selectboards are adopting town plans or bylaws. Hearings have advance notices that include physical posting and a newspaper ad at least 15 days in advance. Some have mailings to abutters or surrounding towns. The purpose of a hearing is to hear comment on a subject. If a decision is expected to be made, it should made at a subsequent meeting. Here is a set of Procedural Tips for hearings on draft plans and bylaws.

Deliberative Sessions are similar to executive sessions, in that they are not public, however they are a distinct thing. These are used typically be review bodies such as the DRB after the final hearing is closed, all testimony and materials are submitted, and the body is ready to deliberate and make a decision.