Sun City Texas Open Meetings and Access to Information and

Texas State Legislation House Bill 372

Open governance meetings and public access to information are rights of every citizen and the cornerstone of a well-informed community.  Sun City Texas has taken positive steps to ensure our residents may attend meetings and access governance documents by adopting the Sun City Texas Open Meetings and Access to Information (OMATI) policy.

Over the past months, there have been a number of email messages, letters, and information provided at a Town Hall meeting, addressing House Bill 372.  Briefly, this bill subjects HOAs (Home Owners Associations) to Government Code Sections 551 and 552, which describes State Government requirements for transparency in open meetings and access to documents. 

Prior to drawing any conclusions about this bill, we need to ask ourselves:

·         What value do we gain from the law that we do not have in our Open Meetings and Access to Information (OMATI) policy?

·         What are the advantages and disadvantages we might experience should this bill pass? After a review of the Government Codes and the Sun City Texas OMATI policy,one will conclude that our document is consistent with government requirements, in fact more stringent in some cases.  There are two key differences between our document and the Codes:

·         Sec. 552 requires that we provide documents to anyone, resident or nonresident, who may wish access to information about our community.

·         Sec. 551 and Sec. 552 describe penalties that may be levied by the Attorney General if a Sun City governance group fails to adhere to the policy.   For example:

Sec. 551, open meetings requirements, of the state document declares it a misdemeanor offense when the open meetings requirements are knowingly violated. 

Sec 552, rights to public information,  declares it a misdemeanor offense if one should divulge confidential information.

To receive an overview of the penalties as described in the Government Code contact the Citizens Council at info@citizenscouncilsct.org.

 

Advantages of the Code:

  • It clearly states what actions will be taken if it is violated.

 Disadvantages of the Code:

  • First, we need to ask ourselves if this is how we want to treat one another.  Do we want to subject our neighbors to the scrutiny of the Attorney General to resolve our differences over any perceived violations to open meetings and public information?  If we should be subjected to the penalties described in the Code,  it is very likely many residents will be unwilling to serve on our Board and Governance Committees.  We are volunteers working part time in the service of our community  and we are not paid for participating in the governance of our community.  We should not choose to be painted with the same brush as professional government officials and politicians.
  • It is also highly likely that this bill will increase the cost of our doing business.  That may translate to an increase in our HOA dues.

 

In Sun City, Texas, our Board of Directors, Executive Director, and committee members are responsible for enforcing OMATI. 

 

Advantages to OMATI:

  • It promotes and supports the levels of civility and trust in our neighbors that is the letter and/or spirit intended.
  • It clearly states the rights of residents and responsibilities of our governance groups and residents.  
  • It enables us to address our differences internally.
  • The cost of doing business with OMATI has not had a negative impact on resident fees.

 Disadvantages to OMATI:

There have been a number of occasions since OMATI became our policy that some residents have challenged governance groups for not complying with our policy.  In some cases, the complaints were not resolved because our policy does not:

·     Clearly state the responsibility the CA Board, Executive Director, and governance committees to ensure policy is followed.

·     Provide residents with a clear method to make a formal objection to a perceived violation. 

 

Let us revisit OMATI and clarify our Leadership's responsibilities and residents' rights to be heard.  We can and should resolve any differences between neighbors on policy questions with civility and without the help of the Texas Attorney General.

 

You may access detailed information on this topic at the following links:

 

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