This University Policy has been restructured and revised to conform with the most recent revisions to the open meetings statutes in North Carolina. The new "Definitions" section describes the UNC Charlotte bodies that are considered public bodies and defines the various types of meetings subject to the open meetings laws. The revised "Procedures" section assigns certain notice responsibilities to the chairs of the affected campus committees. Under the Board of Governors' former interpretation of the definition of a "public body" subject to the law, only the Assistant Secretary of the Board of Trustees carried those responsibilities. Under the revision, the chairs of the various public bodies must inform the Director of the Office of Public Relations of all official meetings, and that office handles all the technical requirements for public notice of open meetings.
The revised University Policy also describes the statutory obligations for keeping minutes of all meetings, lists the limited permissible grounds for going into a closed session, and describes the procedures for going into and coming out of closed sessions. Attached to the policy statement is a "Motion to Go into Closed Session," specifically identifying the legal basis for meeting in closed session, which must properly be made and adopted at the open meeting.