Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board
government · active attested 1996–2013
Also known as Open Meetings Compliance Board
The State board that told Ocean City, in 1996, that it had broken the open meetings law by ordering an ordinance in closed session before it came to public discussion — an ordinance that then reached the council's packet without reaching its agenda. Councilman Vincent Gisriel generalised the reprimand into a doctrine by that July: "one of the important aspects of government and due process is to hear the exchange of ideas and the thinking that goes into laws, ordinances, decisions." He lost the argument. The same objection returns in 1998 when he petitions, and again in 2013 over the Caine Woods substation, which is why this small board sits behind the oldest recurring complaint in the modern record.
In the record (1)
2020 · 2020-06-09
The Open Meetings Compliance Board found in June 2020 that the council had negotiated the pier franchise through a secret work group and closed sessions in violation of the Act; the council signed the opinion and then voted not to release the closed-session minutes
Read into the record at the work session of 9 June 2020: "On June 3, 2020, the Mayor and Council received the Open Meetings Compliance Board Opinion regarding two complaints submitted to the Board in March of 2020. The complaints collectively alleged the Council violated the Act by discussing the pier franchise matters behind closed doors and failing to make any disclosures that would have alerted the public to either the existence of the work group or the action and legislation that the Council was considering. The Compliance Board concluded the Council violated the Open Meetings Act over a period of time by conducting public business that the Act requires to be discussed publicly ... no part of our discussion regarding the pier franchise fell under the procurement exception ... the secret creation of the work group and the secrecy with which the work group negotiated with the pier franchise company, did not ensure the accountability of government to the public." The Board found violations of sections 3-301, 3-305 and 3-306; "The Council has signed the opinion and will submit said signed copy to the Board." On 20 July the minutes name the complainant - "Vince Gisriel filed a grievance with the Open Meetings Compliance Board who opined that franchises are not contracts and must be discussed in open session. In the Opinion, the Board suggested the closed session minutes be released to the public" - and record a "Motion to deny request to release Closed Session minutes specific to Pier Franchise negotiations." Tony Christ had opposed the franchise on 6 January with two cheques offering to buy the rights himself; Gisriel objected again on 23 June when the council closed a session to take legal advice on the opinion.
Source · checked 2026-09-10