What counts as a meeting in Maine: quorum, email and talking outside a meeting
Short answer
Maine's Freedom of Access Act does not define "meeting". It covers "public proceedings": the transactions of any functions affecting citizens by a local board, commission, agency or authority. It sets no quorum test and does not mention chance or social gatherings. It opens deliberations, not only votes, and allows members to talk outside a proceeding unless those talks are used to defeat the Act. Email or text alone cannot hold a proceeding.(1 M.R.S. §§ 401, 402(2), 403-B(1))
Where this fits in your meeting cycle: Clarivis is software that helps a board follow these steps: it records how the notice was posted, lists the duties it does not check, flags an executive session item until a Statutory basis is selected, and drafts the minutes for your board to correct and approve; it counts no notice or minutes deadline, because the Freedom of Access Act sets none, and it does not post the notice for you.
See how Clarivis helpsQuestions on this page
Does Maine law define a meeting?
No. This guide says "meeting" for what the Act calls a public proceeding, and the Act does not use "meeting" as a defined term. It covers "public proceedings", and for a town, city or plantation board that means this:
Statute text
“The term “public proceedings” as used in this subchapter means the transactions of any functions affecting any or all citizens of the State by any of the following:”
The list includes "any board, commission, agency or authority of any county, municipality, school district or any regional or other political or administrative subdivision" (§ 402(2)(C), (F)). Every public proceeding is open to the public, except an executive session or where another statute provides otherwise (§ 403(1)). For closing part of one, see the executive session guide.
What is the Act trying to open up?
The Legislature's statement of purpose reaches deliberation, not only the final vote:
Statute text
“It is the intent of the Legislature that their actions be taken openly and that the records of their actions be open to public inspection and their deliberations be conducted openly.”
The same section names the practice it is aimed at: "clandestine meetings, conferences or meetings held on private property without proper notice and ample opportunity for attendance by the public". So calling a gathering a conference, or holding it on private property without proper notice, is not a way around the Act.
Does a work session or workshop count?
The Act gives no separate rule for a work session, workshop or retreat. A gathering where the board transacts its functions is a public proceeding whatever it is called (§ 402(2)(C), (F)). The safe course is to notice it and keep a record like any other meeting. See the notice guide and the minutes guide.
Is there a quorum rule?
Not in the Act. It sets no number of members that makes a gathering a proceeding, and it lists no exceptions for a chance or social meeting. The notice duty applies to a body "consisting of 3 or more persons" (§ 406). Whether a gathering of fewer than a majority is a proceeding is a question for your municipal attorney. The number a board needs to act comes from outside the Act: the town charter, an ordinance, or the law that created the board.
Can members discuss board business by email or text?
A proceeding may not be held by email, text or chat alone:
Statute text
“Public proceedings may not be conducted by text-only means such as e-mail, text messages or chat functions.”
So a board does not hold its meeting, or take a vote, over an email thread. The Act does not say when an email discussion among members becomes a proceeding, and no court answer is built into this guide. The safe course is to keep email among members to scheduling and to send material to the chair or clerk for the packet.
May members talk outside a meeting?
Yes, with a limit:
Statute text
“This subchapter does not prohibit communications outside of public proceedings between members of a public body unless those communications are used to defeat the purposes of this subchapter.”
Two members chatting about the town is not a violation. The Act does not say when a series of conversations or messages is "used to defeat" its purposes; using them to reach a decision before the public meeting is the clearest risk, and a question for your municipal attorney.
Does a subcommittee have its own meetings?
The definition lists "any board, commission, agency or authority" of a municipality (§ 402(2)(C), (F)); unlike the paragraphs for the Legislature and for the University of Maine System, Maine Community College System and Maine Maritime Academy trustees, it does not name committees or subcommittees. Whether a particular subcommittee is covered is a question for your municipal attorney. The safe course is for a subcommittee of 3 or more that acts for the board to give notice (§ 406) and keep a record. An advisory body with no decision-making authority has its own treatment of the record; see the minutes guide.
Checklist
Items marked (Safe course) are good practice, not the statute's words.
Between meetings
- (Safe course) Email and text among members only to schedule a meeting.
- (Safe course) Information for the board goes to the chair or clerk for the packet, not to everyone.
- (Safe course) No "reply all" with views on business the board will decide.
- No decision made, and no vote taken, by email or text.
Before a work session, retreat or workshop
- (Safe course) Noticed like any other meeting (§ 406).
- A record is kept if it is a public proceeding (§ 403(2)).
At the meeting
- Every member recorded present or absent (§ 403(2)); a member who joins remotely under the board's remote participation policy is present for quorum and voting (§ 403-B(2)(F)).
What the law does not settle
Questions to take to your municipal attorney; this guide does not answer them.
- Whether a gathering of fewer than a majority of a board is a public proceeding.
- Whether an exchange of emails among members about an item before the board is a public proceeding, or only a communication outside one.
- When a chain of one-to-one conversations is "used to defeat the purposes" of the Act.
- Whether a subcommittee or a working group the board created is covered.
- Which quorum number applies when the charter, an ordinance and the board's own rules disagree.
How Clarivis helps
Clarivis does not see email or messages between members and does not tell you whether a gathering was a proceeding. At the meeting itself, it helps the record show who was there.
- Attendance for every member. In Live Meeting, each member is recorded present, remote or absent, and remote is never folded into present.
- No quorum finding for Maine. Clarivis raises no below-quorum item for Maine boards, because the Act sets no quorum, and Clarivis does not check a number set by a charter, ordinance or other law; a Committee Admin or the Clerk can still set the committee's number in Settings, then Committee, for the attendance count.
Related guides
- When and how a Maine board gives notice of a meetingBoards of 3 or more, ample time with no deadline, a method that reaches the public, emergencies
- Maine meeting records: what the minutes or recording must showWhat the record shows, written minutes or a recording, no set number of days
- Executive session in Maine: when a board can meet in private, and what followsThe listed matters, the motion and vote, nothing finally approved inside
- Remote meetings in Maine: the written policy, notice, roll calls and recordingThe written policy, notice, roll-call votes and recording
This guide for other states
Sources
- 1 M.R.S. § 402, definitions (public proceedings): legislature.maine.gov/statutes/1/title1sec402.html
- 1 M.R.S. § 401, declaration of public policy: legislature.maine.gov/statutes/1/title1sec401.html
- 1 M.R.S. § 403-B, remote participation in public proceedings: legislature.maine.gov/statutes/1/title1sec403-B.html
- 1 M.R.S. § 406, public notice: legislature.maine.gov/statutes/1/title1sec406.html