Open Meeting Law

Act 133 (S.55) is a permanent amendment to Vermont’s Open Meeting Law, and took effect on July 1, 2024. More details here.

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. The Central Vermont 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 CVRPC to comply with the requirements of that law by providing the public with information about the 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 CVRPC if they believe CVRPC or any of its committees have violated any of the provisions of the Open Meeting Law.

Vermont’s Open Meeting Law requires all meetings of public bodies to be open to the public at all times, unless a specific exception applies. The purpose of the law is to promote transparency, accountability, and better decision-making in government. In general, the Open Meeting Law requires public bodies to:

  • Provide advance public notice of meetings, including meeting agendas.
  • Discuss all business and take all actions in open meeting, unless an exception in statute applies.
  • Allow members of the public to attend and participate in meetings.
  • Take meeting minutes and make them available to the public.

COMPLAINT PROCEDURES

The procedures for submitting notice of an Open Meeting Law violation to the public body or the Attorney General are as summarized below, with the full text of the subchapter available here.

If you believe an Open Meeting Law violation has occurred, the first step is to submit a written notice to the public body, alleging a specific violation and requesting a specific cure. A complaint form is available below in two formats:

Open Meeting Law Complaint Form – (fillable PDF document)

Open Meeting Law Complaint Form – (Word document)

To submit a complaint, fill out a form and submit it via mail or email to: Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission, ATTN: Christian Meyer, Executive Director, meyer@cvregion.com; 29 Main Street, Suite 4, Montpelier, VT 05602

Upon receipt of a written notice, the public body must respond within 10 calendar days, either by acknowledging the violation and stating its intent to cure it or by stating its determination that no violation occurred and so no cure is necessary. Failure to respond is treated as a denial of the violation.

If the public body acknowledges a violation of the open meeting law, it must cure the violation within 14 calendar days.

Act 133 (S.55), effective July 1, 2024, is a permanent amendment to Vermont’s Open Meeting Law that:

  • Permits “advisory bodies” – those that do not have supervision, control, or jurisdiction over legislative, quasi-judicial, tax, or budgetary matters – to meet electronically without a physical meeting location (i.e., remotely);
  • Requires all other public bodies (i.e., “non-advisory bodies”) to record, in audio or video form, their meetings and post the recordings in a designated electronic location for a minimum of 30 days following the approval and posting of the official minutes of the meeting which was recorded; (CVRPC’s Non-Advisory bodies are it’s Board and Executive Committee)
  • Allows all public bodies to meet remotely in response to a state of emergency or “local incident”;
  • Requires all public bodies to provide local residents, members of the press, or members of the body itself electronic/telephonic or in-person meeting access options to a regularly scheduled meeting, if requested (unless it causes an undue hardship);
  • Requires a municipality to post on its website (if it maintains one):
    • an explanation of the procedures for submitting notice of an Open Meeting Law violation to the public body or the Attorney General; and
    • a copy of the text of 1 V.S.A. § 314; and
  • Imposes annual training requirements on selectboard chairs, town managers, and mayors (beginning January 1, 2025).