Open Meetings Law

A member library has the following questions concerning libraries that are subject to Open Meetings Law (OML) and have adopted Robert’s Rules of Order for their meetings:

I am the Board Secretary.

"Ask the Lawyer" got two questions about the April 9, 2022 changes to the Open Meetings Law ("OML"), which will enable library boards to more easily meet via videoconferencing. 

I just read your excellent answer about posting documents per the OML changes in advance of meetings.

I think you are right on target.

With recent updates to the OML in New York state, there is now a requirement both to stream and to make recordings of sessions available via website as described in 103(f).

I am a Trustee on the Board of our library. I also serve as the Secretary to the Board. As such, I do the note-taking and draft the meeting minutes for every board meeting.

Often times, our meeting agenda changes so we would like to add a disclosure at the bottom that reads “Agenda is subject to change.”

As you know, Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation (S.50001/A.40001) extending virtual access to public meetings under New York State's Open Meetings Law, which allows

The Governor signed S1150A/A1228A into law [on] October 19, 2021.

Now that Open Meetings Law modifications have been lifted, are we still required to maintain physical distancing for board meetings?