a. Notice Requirements
If a statute exempts meetings from the requirements of s. 286.011, F.S., the meetings are also exempt from the notice provisions in that statute that would otherwise apply. AGO 93-86. Accord AGO 07-28.b. Attendance at Closed Meetings
In some cases, a statutory exemption specifies the persons who are permitted to attend a closed session. For example, s. 286.011(8), F.S., establishing an open meetings exemption for certain discussions pertaining to pending litigation, provides that only the entity, the entity’s attorney, the entity’s chief administrative officer, and a court reporter may attend the closed meeting. See AGO 01-10 (clerk of court not authorized to attend).However, where an exemption for certain public hospital board meetings relating to a “written strategic plan” did not specify who may attend (other than a court reporter), the Attorney General’s Office recommended that the board “strictly limit attendance to only those individuals who are essential to the purpose of the meeting, i.e., to discuss, receive a report on, modify, or approve a strategic plan, in order to avoid what the courts might consider to be a disclosure to the public.” AGO 07-28. And see AGO 06-34 (members of a local advocacy council, who are attending a closed session of the statewide advocacy council during the discussion of one of the local council’s cases, may not remain in the closed session when the statewide advocacy council is considering cases from other advocacy councils which are unrelated to the local advocacy council’s cases).
