25-19-106. Open public meetings. [Effective until emergency ends or December 31, 2020.]

25-19-106. Open public meetings. [Effective until emergency ends or December 31, 2020.] (a) Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, all meetings, formal or informal, special or regular, of the governing bodies of all municipalities, counties, townships, and school districts and all boards, bureaus, commissions, or organizations of the State of Arkansas, except grand juries, supported wholly or in part by public funds or expending public funds, shall be public meetings. (b)(1) The time and place of each regular meeting shall be furnished to anyone who requests the information. (2) In the event of emergency or special meetings, the person calling the meeting shall notify the representatives of the newspapers, radio stations, and television stations, if any, located in the county in which the meeting is to be held and any news media located elsewhere that cover regular meetings of the governing body and that have requested to be so notified of emergency or special meetings of the time, place, and date of the meeting. Notification shall be made at least two (2) hours before the meeting takes place in order that the public shall have representatives at the meeting. (c)(1)(A) Except as provided under subdivision (c)(6) of this section, an executive session will be permitted only for the purpose of considering employment, appointment, promotion, demotion, disciplining, or resignation of any public officer or employee. (B) The specific purpose of the executive session shall be announced in public before going into executive session. (2)(A) Only the person holding the top administrative position in the public agency, department, or office involved, the immediate supervisor of the employee involved, and the employee may be present at the executive session when so requested by the governing body, board, commission, or other public body holding the executive session. (B) Any person being interviewed for the top administrative position in the public agency, department, or office involved may be present at the executive session when so requested by the governing board, commission, or other public body holding the executive session. (3) Executive sessions must never be called for the purpose of defeating the reason or the spirit of this chapter. (4) No resolution, ordinance, rule, contract, regulation, or motion considered or arrived at in executive session will be legal unless, following the executive session, the public body reconvenes in public session and presents and votes on the resolution, ordinance, rule, contract, regulation, or motion. (5)(A) Boards and commissions of this state may meet in executive session for purposes of preparing examination materials and answers to examination materials that are administered to applicants for licensure from state agencies. (B) Boards and commissions are excluded from this chapter for the administering of examinations to applicants for licensure. (6) Subject to the provisions of subdivision (c)(4) of this section, a public agency may meet in executive session for the purpose of considering, evaluating, or discussing matters pertaining to public water system security or municipally owned utility system security as described in § 25-19-105(b)(18). (7) An executive session held by the Child Maltreatment Investigations Oversight Committee under § 10-3-3201 et seq. is exempt from this section. (d)(1) All officially scheduled, special, and called open public meetings shall be recorded in a manner that allows for the capture of sound, including without limitation: (A) A sound-only recording; (B) A video recording with sound and picture; or (C) A digital or analog broadcast capable of being recorded. (2) A recording of an open public meeting shall be maintained by a public entity for a minimum of one (1) year from the date of the open public meeting. (3) The recording shall be maintained in a format that may be reproduced upon a request under this chapter. (4) Subdivisions (d)(1) and (2) of this section do not apply to: (A) Executive sessions; or (B) Volunteer fire departments. (5) Cities of the second class and incorporated towns are exempt from subdivisions (d)(1) and (2) of this section until July 1, 2020. (e)(1) If the Governor declares a disaster emergency under the Arkansas Emergency Services Act of 1973, § 12-75-101 et seq., a public entity may assemble, gather, meet, and conduct an open public meeting through electronic means, including without limitation by: (A) Telephone; (B) Video conference; or (C) Video broadcast. (2) If an open public meeting is held under subdivision (e)(1) of this section: (A) The public may attend the open public meeting using electronic means; and (B) Notice of the method the public may attend the open public meeting shall be published with the notice of the open public meeting. (3) Physical presence of the public or of an individual member of the public entity at the open public meeting is not required under this subsection. (4) The open public meeting shall be recorded in the format in which it is conducted, including without limitation: (A) A sound-only recording; (B) A video recording with sound and picture; or (C) A digital or analog broadcast capable of being recorded. (5) A public entity shall maintain the records of an open public meeting held under this subsection for a minimum of one (1) year from the date of the open public meeting.