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ABSTRACT
Much of the current literature on open public meetings focuses on public participation. We expanded upon this literature and address public meetings from the perspective of governmental transparency. Each state has an open meeting law that applies to its government bodies, including the local governments in the state. Using transparency and public participation literatures and field research, we developed a framework for analyzing open meeting laws and their capacity for fostering transparent practices. As a result, we identified eight components that are most important with respect to transparency: notice and agenda; minutes; closed meeting sessions; public comment; video and audio recordings; electronic meetings; violations, sanctions, fines, and attorneys' fees; and physical space. Open meeting policies and practices from one state, New Jersey, are offered to illustrate the utility of this framework. Further, a review of open meeting laws in all 50 states and the District of Columbia resulted in wide variation as to how they approach these eight aspects of open meeting issues. The components of the framework we provide may be useful to municipal managers when considering an overhaul of their public meeting practices.
INTRODUCTION
Currently, much of the open meeting literature focuses on open public meetings with regards to public participation. This focus is a legitimate one since open meetings have historically been a common avenue for participation in the United States. Whether open meetings really offer substantial opportunities for participation with significant impact is still an open question (Adams 2004; Baker, Addams, & Davis 2005; Cole & Caputo 1984; McComas 2001). The main contribution of this study is to establish a framework for analyzing open meeting laws with respect to transparency. This is the first comprehensive analytical framework of this kind. An analysis of open meeting laws throughout the United States with highlights from New Jersey policies and practices illustrate the utility of this framework.
We build upon the current public meetings literature and address how open meetings relate to governmental transparency. Frances Rourke wrote that "nothing could be more axiomatic for a democracy than the principle of exposing the processes of government to relentless public criticism and scrutiny" (1960, p. 694). Open public meetings have the potential to expose the processes of government. Within this paper we focus...