THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 9, 1995 TAG: 9508090439
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
The latest edition of ``she said-he said'' on the Dare County Board of Commissioners spins around the debate over the legality of preliminary meetings concerning the possible sale of water to Currituck County.
Dare County Commissioner Shirley Hassell says the two boards violated North Carolina's Sunshine Law by holding a meeting involving members of both counties' governing boards.
Commission Chairman Robert V. ``Bobby'' Owens Jr. says that since the meeting was held at the committee level, and did not include a quorum of either board, the open-meetings law does not apply.
The meeting was held Thursday to discuss a possible water sale of 160,000 gallons per day by Dare County to its northern neighbor. At the meeting were three members of the Dare board and one from the Currituck commission.
But the leading authority on the state's open meetings law says that while it appears that a joint committee is a public body and subject to the law, the issue is clouded by a 1994 action by the North Carolina General Assembly.
David Lawrence of the North Carolina Institute of Government in Chapel Hill said that before October of 1994, specific language in the law placed committees of public bodies under the statute.
However, amendments passed in 1994 removed specific language governing committees.
``My own opinion is that they probably are'' subject to the law, said Lawrence, author of ``Open Meetings and Local Governments In North Carolina.''
``But it depends on the effect of the legislature's changes. Prior to 1994, the language was very specific. But after Oct. 1, the language was taken out, and now we can't be sure. There is some ambiguity.''
Lawrence said the General Assembly may have removed the language because other wording may have made it unnecessary. by CNB