Online and phone meetings in Connecticut: notice, public access and recording
Short answer
A Connecticut board may meet by phone or video, or partly online. A regular meeting held this way needs notice to each member and a posted notice at least 48 hours ahead. When any member takes part electronically, a vote is taken by roll call unless it is unanimous, and the minutes list who attended in person and who electronically. A meeting held only online, other than a special meeting, is recorded or transcribed.(Conn. Gen. Stat. § 1-225a(a), (b), (c), (d))
Where this fits in your meeting cycle: Clarivis is software that helps a board follow these steps: it counts the deadline for each meeting's agenda or notice, shows when each regular meeting's minutes are due and drafts the minutes for your board to correct and approve; it does not file or post anything for you.
See how Clarivis helpsQuestions on this page
Can a board meet by phone or video?
Yes. Since July 1, 2021 the Act has allowed a public meeting by electronic equipment, or by electronic equipment alongside an in-person meeting:
Statute text
“On and after July 1, 2021, a public agency may hold a public meeting that is accessible to the public by means of electronic equipment or by means of electronic equipment in conjunction with an in-person meeting, in accordance with the provisions of this section.”
"Electronic equipment" is defined broadly:
Statute text
“Electronic equipment” means any technology that facilitates real-time public access to meetings, including, but not limited to, telephonic, video or other conferencing platforms.
A board must also give its own members the chance to take part this way:
Statute text
“Any public agency that conducts a meeting shall provide members of the public agency the opportunity to participate by means of electronic equipment, except that a public agency is not required to adjourn or postpone a meeting if a member loses the ability to participate because of an interruption, failure or degradation of that member's connection by electronic equipment, unless the member's participation is necessary to form a quorum.”
What notice does an online meeting need?
For a regular meeting, at least 48 hours ahead:
Statute text
“Not less than forty-eight hours before any public agency, except for the General Assembly, conducts a regular meeting by means of electronic equipment, such agency shall provide direct notification in writing or by electronic transmission to each member of the public agency and post a notice that such agency intends to conduct the meeting solely or in part by means of electronic equipment”
The notice is posted in the board's office, with the town clerk, and on the board's website, if it has one. The agenda is posted in the same places at least 24 hours ahead. Both give the public instructions for attending, and for commenting where comment is allowed, online or in person as applicable.
For a special meeting, the notice says whether the meeting will be held online, in whole or in part:
Statute text
“Any public agency other than the General Assembly that conducts a special meeting shall include in the notice of such meeting whether the meeting will be conducted solely or in part by means of electronic equipment”
See the notice and agenda guide for the rest of the notice rules.
How does the public attend?
For a meeting held only online, other than an executive session or special meeting, the board gives a member of the public a place and equipment to attend if they ask in writing in time:
Statute text
“shall (1) provide any member of the public (A) upon a written request submitted not less than twenty-four hours prior to such meeting, with a physical location and any electronic equipment necessary to attend such meeting in real-time”
At such a meeting, if a quorum joins by electronic equipment from one place, the public may attend there:
Statute text
“if a quorum of the members of a public agency attend a meeting by means of electronic equipment from the same physical location, permit members of the public to attend such meeting in such physical location”
The Act has two rules on public comment, and how they fit together when a board takes comment by choice is not settled (see below). At a meeting held only online (other than an executive session or special meeting), the board gives the public the same chances to comment or take part that it would give if the meeting were held in person (§ 1-225a). Otherwise, a board need not offer people attending online a chance to comment unless the law requires it for people attending in person:
Statute text
“Nothing in this section shall be construed to require a public agency to offer members of the public who attend a meeting by means of electronic equipment the opportunity for public comment, testimony or other participation if the provision of such opportunity is not required by law for members of the public who attend such a meeting in person.”
How are votes and attendance recorded?
Statute text
“Any vote taken at a meeting during which any member participates by means of electronic equipment shall be taken by roll call, unless the vote is unanimous. The minutes of the meeting shall record a list of members that attended such meeting in person and a list of members that attended such meeting by means of electronic equipment.”
So the minutes carry two lists. See the minutes guide.
Does a meeting held only online have to be recorded?
Yes, unless it is a special meeting; any executive session is left out.
Statute text
“ensure that such meeting is recorded or transcribed, excluding any portion of the meeting that is an executive session, and such transcription or recording is posted on the agency's Internet web site and made available to the public to view, listen to and copy in the agency's office or regular place of business not later than seven days after the meeting and for not less than forty-five days thereafter”
This applies to a meeting held solely by electronic equipment, other than a special meeting. A meeting that is partly in person is not described in this sentence.
What if the connection fails?
The board may resume the meeting a set time after an interruption:
Statute text
“the public agency may, not less than thirty minutes and not more than two hours from the time of the interruption or the chairperson's determination, resume the meeting”
The Act also asks the board to restore public access and, if practicable, to post and send a notice of the expected time. It may announce at the start of any meeting what plans it has for an interruption.
Checklist
Before a regular meeting held online, in whole or in part
- Each member is told in writing or by email, and the notice is posted, at least 48 hours ahead.
- The agenda, with instructions for the public to attend and, where comment is allowed, to comment, is posted at least 24 hours ahead.
Before a special meeting
- The notice says whether it is held online, in whole or in part, and how the public attends.
At the meeting
- Any vote with a member taking part electronically is taken by roll call, unless it is unanimous.
- Minutes list who attended in person and who attended electronically.
- A meeting held only online, other than a special meeting, is recorded or transcribed, apart from any executive session.
- The recording or transcript is posted on the board's website and available in its office within 7 days, and kept available for at least 45 days.
What the law does not settle
Questions to take to your town counsel; this guide does not answer them.
- Whether a member who joins electronically counts toward the quorum for every purpose; the Act speaks of a member whose participation is "necessary to form a quorum" but does not say so in terms.
- Whether a recording is required when a meeting is partly in person.
- How to hold an executive session when a member is online.
- How the rule that an online-only meeting gives the public the same chances to comment as an in-person one fits with the rule that the Act adds no duty to offer comment where none is required in person, when the board takes comment in person by choice.
- Whether the duty to give members the chance to take part electronically applies to every meeting, including one held in person, or only to meetings held under this section; the sentence begins "Any public agency that conducts a meeting" but sits in subsection (b).
- Whether a vote with an abstention counts as "unanimous" for the roll-call exception.
- What counts as "unacceptable degradation" of the connection, which the chairperson decides.
How Clarivis helps
At the meeting, Clarivis records how each member attended; it does not run the call, post the notice or make the recording for you.
- Remote is its own attendance state. A member is recorded present, remote or absent, and remote is never folded into present.
- No reason asked. For Connecticut, Clarivis does not ask why a member is remote, and it counts a remote member in the attendance count.
- Names the duties it does not check. The meeting's Compliance step lists the online-meeting notice and the recording among the duties Clarivis does not check.
Related guides
- Connecticut meeting agendas and notices: the yearly schedule, and what to file before each meetingThe yearly schedule, the regular agenda, the special notice, the 24-hour count
- The yearly meeting schedule in Connecticut: what a board files by January 31The January 31 filing and the 30-day wait
- Connecticut meeting minutes and votes: what they must include and when they are dueMinutes within 7 days, each member's vote within 48 hours
- Executive session in Connecticut: when a board can meet in private, and what followsThe five purposes, the two-thirds vote, who attends, the minutes
- What counts as a meeting in Connecticut: quorum, email and chance encountersQuorum, email, and what the law leaves out
This guide for other states
Sources
- Conn. Gen. Stat. § 1-225a, Meetings of public agencies conducted by electronic equipment: www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_014.htm
- Conn. Gen. Stat. § 1-200, Definitions: www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_014.htm