Government
BY NICHAELA SHAHEEN
Starting Sept. 1, a new state law changed how and when cities and counties must post public notices for meetings. House Bill 1522 changes the previous 72- hour notice requirement to three business days, meaning weekends and holidays no longer count toward the minimum posting period. The new law is intended to give residents more time to review meeting agendas and participate in local government decisions, according to the bill analysis. In preparation for HB 1522’s implementation, some local government entities in the area shifted their meeting schedules. The city of Conroe and Montgomery County Commissioners Court have changed their meeting dates to make it easier to comply with the law. Public notice rules change e ective Sept. 1 HB 1522 requirements Notice of a meeting of a governmental body must: Be readily accessible to the general public at all times for at least three business days before the scheduled date Meetings including budget discussion or adoption must also include:
What they’re saying
The change will also a ect other boards, committees and departments that post public meetings, County Clerk Brandon Steinmann said July 15. Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R Brenham, sponsored the bill, which was authored by Rep. Stan Gerdes, R Smithville. The stated goal of the bill is to allow for more transparency and accessibility for citizen participation; however, it is also to ensure fairness, according to the bill analysis. “While [the original law] is meant to provide for government transparency and citizen participa- tion, the bill author has informed the committee that the language of the current law can be used to the advantage of a local government whereby the intended transparency is infringed upon,” Gerdes stated in the bill analysis.
Montgomery County o cials discussed how they will update policies to comply with the law during the July 15 Commissioners Court meeting. They voted to hold Tuesday meetings through the end of the year to avoid disrupting existing schedules. Agendas will be posted earlier to meet the new requirement until the permanent switch to Thursday meetings is made in January. “We adopted a county calendar at the beginning of the year, not just the ve of us, but all of y’all also set your calendars based on that,” Precinct 3 Commissioner Ritch Wheeler said. “This law goes into e ect Sept. 1. Rather than changing for the rest of the year, we’ll just change our agenda process for the rest of the year, which will be a little bit of a pain for sta , and I apologize to sta . ... We can manage that for three or four months.”
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What’s next
Montgomery city o cials considered moving council meetings to Thursdays instead of Tuesdays, which was on council’s Aug. 12 meeting agenda, but ultimately tabled the item, keeping meetings on Tuesdays for the time being. On Aug. 28, Conroe City Council voted to change its meeting structure, with agenda items now being discussed and voted on at the same time rather than holding a separate workshop meeting as the council has done previously. Conroe City Council’s next meeting is set for Sept. 25.
“It’s going to take a couple of meetings to adjust and for people to understand that they can’t just come in on Friday and
get things on an agenda. But once they understand and learn that, like anything, it’ll take care of itself.” CASEY OLSEN, PLACE 2 COUNCIL MEMBER, MONTGOMERY CITY COUNCIL
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