Pa Sunshine Act as Incentive

Pennsylvania Office of Open Records says: “The Pennsylvania Sunshine Act, 65 Pa.C.S. §§ 701-716, requires agencies to deliberate and take official action on agency business in an open and public meeting. It requires that meetings have prior notice, and that the public can attend, participate, and comment before an agency takes that official action. The Office of Open Records (OOR) does not enforce the Sunshine Act, but it does provide training on the law.”

Public Libraries are subject to the law, as are the Library districts to which those Libraries belong, such as the Westmoreland County Federated Library System (WCFLS), formerly known to you by its public name as the Westmoreland Library Network (WLN). There is a burden on each and every Library, Library district, and its Board especially to assure compliance within the intent and spirit of the law. Else, section 710.1(c) of the Act says that “a member of the public can file a legal challenge with the Commonwealth Court.”

Of course, no Board Trustee/Director would want that. For one thing, even the appearance of noncompliance, if brought to the public’s attention, would be a bad smell and counter to the wishes of any Library Board to build support and participation from the public. An egregious negative outcome might very well manifest in a decline in donor willingness to support.

The fact is that most Library Board meetings are poorly attended anyway, not well attended by vested-interest patrons of the community. Why is that? It is easy to say that things are running so well that input is not needed, that the future is so promising that it will take care of itself. I think an opportunity is missed.

The opportunity is to actively and loudly put out a public welcome mat for each Board meeting, not just comply with the Sunshine Act, which only sets a minimum standard. In fact, Library Boards tend to share a common problem, that being attracting new people to serve on the Board. That problem might just go away if people were actively invited to attend Board meetings, to see that one can accomplish something meaningful for the community by bringing new ideas into the conversation. That might lead to a willingness to be nominated to the Board.

I can tell you as a long-time retiree from corporate life in research and development that life in the Library world has many problems and opportunities that are not unlike corporate ones. They can be equally challenging and exciting.

I have been on many Library Boards, even four concurrently at one time, but presently only on the Murrysville Community Library Foundation Board, It is a great group, but we are only eight, and as many as fifteen are allowed by bylaws. Similarly, the Murrysville Community Library Board has been shorthanded for a year.

So, the PA Sunshine Act mandates that you the patron be allowed to participate in any open meeting. I encourage and invite you to do that. To take advantage of your rights under the Act, but then to go beyond that and be a part of growing something good for the community. To apply to one of our Boards, with all your special skills in hand. If seen to have good intentions, you will be welcomed.