Lawsuit challenges redactions to public meeting minutes.

While I frequently encounter instances where government bodies redact nonpublic (i.e. executive or closed) meeting minutes, it is very rare for a public body to redact the minutes of meetings that were held in public.  It seems clear that a governmental body that discusses something in public cannot thereafter excise those discussions from the meeting minutes.

In a December 30, 2013 lawsuit filed by Walter M. Luers, Esq. of Clinton (Paff v. Division of Local Government Services, Docket No. MER-L-000006-14), available on-line here, I am challenging the Local Finance Board's decision to make substantial redactions to its public session minutes.

The matter has been assigned to Mercer County Assignment Judge Mary C. Jacobson and will probably heard within the next two months.