[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Massapequa Park 10-7-1985 by L.L. No. 1-1985.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
[1]
Editor's Note: The preamble of this local law provided as follows:
"WHEREAS, prior to may 31, 1985, the Public Officers Law for the State of New York required that all meetings by a public body for the purposes of transacting public business be conducted in public subject to certain statutory exceptions;
"WHEREAS the State Legislature, on May 31, 1985, amended the Public Officers Law to specifically permit members of a public body of the same political party to meet to deliberate upon public matters in closed sessions;
"WHEREAS the Open Meetings Law was obviously designed to assure the public's right to be informed and further to prevent public bodies from functioning in secret;
"WHEREAS the Open Meetings Law would be ineffective if the public was closed out of the deliberative process by members of a public body;
"WHEREAS, but for those matters statutorily excluded by § 100 of the Public Officers Law, it is the opinion of this Board that the deliberative processes of transacting village business should be open to public security regardless of the statutory authorization to the contrary; and
"WHEREAS it is the opinion of the Board of Trustees that public confidence in its local government is best served by the continued deliberative process of deliberation before the public and that the Board should adopt a policy stating as much,.."
Notwithstanding the provisions of § 108, Subdivision 2b, of the Public Officers Law, all meetings of the members of the Board of Trustees of the Incorporated Village of Massapequa Park for the purposes of transacting public business, including deliberation on such business, shall be conducted in public, subject to the exclusions provided for in § 100 of the Public Officers Law.