Westmoreland County commissioners are becoming an open book, so to speak.
An expansion of the state’s Open Meeting Law, which went into effect Aug. 29, means an agenda detailing items up for debate or vote by the commissioners must be available to the public at least one day in advance.
In late June, Gov. Tom Wolf signed into law a revision to the state’s Sunshine Act. It requires boards and councils to post agendas at least 24 hours before public meetings at the location of those sessions and well as on the government body’s website. The legislation passed unanimously in both the state House and Senate.
The state’s Open Meeting Law applies to all county governments, municipalities, school boards and authorities.
“Agendas will have to be posted 24 hours before the meetings,” said Vera Spina, the county’s chief clerk.
Commissioners hold one regularly scheduled public voting meeting a month — on a Thursday — and conduct an agenda review on the Tuesday before the session.
In the past, it wasn’t unusual for changes and additions to suddenly appear on agendas distributed just minutes before the start of the Thursday meeting.
That will no longer be permitted under the new law, Spina said. The law does allow for emergency additions to the public sessions but only with an accompanying explanation for the new items.
Meeting notices, detailed agendas and minutes of past voting sessions for boards under the oversight of the commissioners will be added to the county’s website starting in September. Agendas and other meeting information can be found under the transparency tab of the website.
A printed copy of the agendas will be posted near the commissioners’ conference room, where meetings are held, and at their offices in the courthouse.
Agendas for other county boards — including those that oversee elections, economic development, prison and juvenile detention center — will be posted on the website and at the courthouse, Spina said.
