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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The following was faxed to Director Edward Rodgers
early on the morning of October 25, 2012. Ed, please let me know if you're
seeing this for the first time. It appears things will get much worse
before they'll get better, but I hope I'm wrong.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Here's what I sent:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ed, I am writing you in response to your claim that
recording of BSBP meetings is not permissible because of a concern about the
official record of any meeting. While I did in fact stop recording per
your request, I stated that I would study the issue. I have done this and
now say that the October 22, 2012 meeting of the Elected Operators' Committee
was conducted in clear violation of Michigan's open meetings Act and that BSBP
remains bound by the provisions of the OMA for the following
reasons:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Meetings of the Elected operators' Committee are to
be conducted in conformity with PA267 of 1976 as set forth in BEP promulgated
rule R393.52 (2) (a). You stated to me that the EOC meeting was a public
meeting, yet you denied me the right to make my own recording of the meeting,
saying I was limited to low-tech note-taking only. It is also true that no
opportunity for public comment was given during this meeting, contrary to the
requirements of PA267. That your staff is fully aware of this, yet
remained silent suggests strongly that you may wish to question and more closely
examine critically their statements to you about BEP operations and the way they
conduct business on behalf of the Bureau</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>PA267 of 1976 has this to say about the recording
of public meetings:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>addressing meeting of public body; tape-recording,
videotaping, broadcasting, and telecasting proceedings; rules and regulations;
exclusion from meeting; exemptions.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sec. 3. (1) All meetings of a public body shall be
open to the public and shall be held in a place available to the general public.
All persons shall be permitted to attend any meeting except as otherwise
provided in this act. The right of a person to attend a meeting of a public body
includes the right to tape-record, to videotape, to broadcast live on radio, and
to telecast live on television the proceedings of a public body at a public
meeting. The exercise of this right shall not be dependent upon the prior
approval of the public body. However, a public body may establish reasonable
rules and regulations in order to minimize the possibility of disrupting the
meeting. The OMA exempts meetings in certain departments in which the
merits of a case are being deliberated, but there appears to be no application
to the former Commission for the Blind or the current BSBP, except as it relates
to closed sessions of public meetings.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>From EO2012-10:<BR>B. All authority, powers,
duties, functions, records, personnel, property, unexpended balances of
appropriations, allocations or other funds of the Commission for the Blind are
transferred from the Commission for the Blind to the Bureau of Services for
Blind Persons, including but not limited to the following:<BR>1. The Blind
and Visually Disabled Persons Act, 1978 PA 260, MCL 393.351 to
393.369,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Finally, from PA260 of 1978:<BR>BLIND AND VISUALLY
DISABLED PERSONS (EXCERPT)<BR>Act 260 of 1978<BR>393.365 Conducting business at
public meeting; notice; availability of writings to<BR>public.<BR>Sec.
15.<BR>(1) The business which the commission or any committee appointed under
this act may<BR>perform shall be conducted at a public meeting of the commission
or committee held<BR>in compliance with Act No. 267 of the Public Acts of 1976,
being sections 15.261<BR>to 15.275 of the Michigan Compiled Laws. Public notice
of the time, date, and place<BR>of the meeting shall be given in the manner
required by Act No. 267 of the Public<BR>Acts of 1976.<BR>(2) A writing
prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by the commission<BR>in
the performance of an official function shall be made available to the
public<BR>in compliance with Act No. 442 of the Public Acts of 1976, being
sections 15.231<BR>to 15.246 of the Michigan Compiled Laws.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The emphasis on the OMA in PA260 and in the BEP
promulgated rules is a direct result of attempts in the past to deny the
public generally and blind people specifically knowledge of how our Agency was
being run, even going so far as to deny the right of BEP operators who were not
EOC members to attend EOC meetings.<BR>Events of October 22 and the discovery
that there is a plan to introduce legislation that would exempt the Executive
and Legislative branches of State government from the food service
priority established in PA260 of 1978 have changed my attitude about BSBP from
cautious optimism to one of caution at best. Ed, here's hoping that you
are genuinely interested in repairing and building a better Agency for the blind
of Michigan and not merely a more educated and aggressive version of your
predecessor.<BR>I’ve contacted you via fax as my internet service is not
available. I should have working internet service again by 10-29; and the
e-mail address that you have on record should remain effective.<BR>Joe
Sontag<BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>