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Now all of this was made public later,
but if the thrust of Judge Sherbow's
amendment is that all actions of the Board,
which is to be definitive, have to be taken
in public, and no action can be taken un-
less there is a public meeting, with all
three of the members sitting there, then
I submit that you in effect are hamstring-
ing the Board in doing many of the acts
that it must do on a day to day business-
like basis. We all know that in business
and finance, people are polled in the tele-
phone. Their consent is received in this
manner. The action is taken; later it is
ratified. It seems to me as commendatory
as this suggestion is that the preferable
way to handle it is in the statute or is in
the schedule and not to require in each
instance that there be a public meeting of
the Board before definitive action can be
taken. I think we in effect are hamstringing
the efficiency of the Board with this amend-
ment, and I think it is wrong and I will
vote against it.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Chabot.
DELEGATE CHABOT: Mr. Chairman,
I believe that in this convention the Ju-
diciary Committee on a number of occa-
sions, and still a drafting committee on at
least one occasion that I am aware of, was
able to hold a public meeting, together
with people who were many hundreds of
miles away from here, by means of a con-
ference call with a loud speaker arrange-
ment.
I really do not think that this particular
problem of the sort Delegate Case has in-
dicated is one that with modern science
and technology ought to stop us from ac-
cepting Delegate Sherbow's amendment.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sherbow.
DELEGATE SHERBOW: I simply want
to read to the General Assembly the lan-
guage of the present Constitution. "Article
XII, section 1, Public Works: The gov-
ernor, the comptroller of the treasury and
the treasurer shall constitute the Board of
Public Works of this State. They shall
keep a journal of their proceedings and
shall hold regular sessions in the City of
Annapolis on the first Wednesday in Janu-
ary, April, July and October of each year,
and oftener if necessary, at which sessions
they shall hear and determine such matters
as affect the Public Works of this State
and as the General Assembly may confer
upon them the power to decide. "
Then later it states that a majority of
them shall be competent to act.
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I am not passing on what has happened
in the past. I think we are living in a new
era. I think what has occurred in the past
is what they have been doing, and that is,
holding their sessions in the public, hav-
ing their minutes in the public, when these
extraordinary emergencies arise. It is a
very simple matter for the decisions to be
made in the presence of a majority. If the
delay takes place for an hour or two, there
is nothing extraordinary and no harm will
result. I just think that we have to have
this kind of a provision in this kind of a
Board foundation, because if we do not, it
is going to be very simple, more and more,
to find these emergencies occurring.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Boyce.
DELEGATE BOYCE: Delegate Sher-
bow, will you yield to a question.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does Delegate Sher-
bow yield?
DELEGATE SHERBOW: Yes.
DELEGATE BOYCE: Does Article XII
section 1, as you read it anywhere say that
they must hold that session in public?
DELEGATE SHERBOW: No. That is
the wonderful part about it, the fact they
keep their minutes and hold them in public.
DELEGATE BOYCE: There is no one
arguing about keeping minutes, but you
are saying that we put in here that they
must hold their sessions in public. Delegate
Case has said that that is not necessary.
I do not think it is either. Then you quote
from the present article saying it is doing
it now and it is not saying it in there.
DELEGATE SHERBOW: I have read
the constitutional provisions so that there
will be no misunderstanding about what is
in there. I am saying that if you want a
Board of Public Works, by whatever name
you choose to call it, that as of this time
the public, if you are going to have the
Board, has the right to know. It has the
right to know before. If you do not want
to put this in, then I think you are de-
ciding what you are going to have is a
three-man executive committee which can
make decisions. Maybe you will find out
about them later.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sickles.
DELEGATE SICKLES: Mr. Chairman,
it seems to me that the motivation which
caused me to put this language in in the
first place was certainly of the highest. I
was really trying to use those things which
had been alluded to by Delegate Sherbow,
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