Industrial Authorities to finance the purchase or construction of school facilities. Payments on the mortgage for facilities are reported in the Debt Service function DEBT SERVICE 5000—Activities related to servicing the long-term debt of the school including payments of both principal and interest. Appendix 2 Email received April 4, 2016 from the Arizona Ombudsman’s Office: Mr. Hall, My name is Danee Garone, and I handle open meeting law matters for the Ombudsman’s office. We received your complaint concerning the Benjamin Franklin Charter School. You said, The Benjamin Franklin Charter School does not include information on their website (or any school websites) regarding the physical or electronic location of notices for Governing Board meetings, Board members, agendas, or minutes. There is no indication that a meeting has been held since 7/7/2016. I checked the school’s website and saw the same things you did. I not see a statement indicating where meeting notices will be posted. I also did not see any meeting notices for any meetings since 7/7/2016. Do you happen to know whether the school’s governing board has met since 7/7/2016? As far as the other issues you pointed out, open meeting law does not require public bodies to post information about the public body’s members or meeting minutes. Additionally, open meeting law does not require that a public body post its agenda online. A public body may simply explain in the meeting notice how one may obtain a copy of the agenda for the meeting. At least with the 7/7/2016 meeting, the board seems to have done this. I contacted someone at the school about the issues and am waiting to hear back. I will follow up with you once I do. Thank you. Danee Garone Staff Attorney Arizona Ombudsman Citizens’ Aide – 602-277-7292
Industrial Authorities to finance the purchase or construction of school facilities. Payments on the mortgage for facilities are reported in the Debt Service function DEBT SERVICE 5000—Activities related to servicing the long-term debt of the school including payments of both principal and interest. Appendix 2 Email received April 4, 2016 from the Arizona Ombudsman’s Office: Mr. Hall, My name is Danee Garone, and I handle open meeting law matters for the Ombudsman’s office. We received your complaint concerning the Benjamin Franklin Charter School. You said, The Benjamin Franklin Charter School does not include information on their website (or any school websites) regarding the physical or electronic location of notices for Governing Board meetings, Board members, agendas, or minutes. There is no indication that a meeting has been held since 7/7/2016. I checked the school’s website and saw the same things you did. I not see a statement indicating where meeting notices will be posted. I also did not see any meeting notices for any meetings since 7/7/2016. Do you happen to know whether the school’s governing board has met since 7/7/2016? As far as the other issues you pointed out, open meeting law does not require public bodies to post information about the public body’s members or meeting minutes. Additionally, open meeting law does not require that a public body post its agenda online. A public body may simply explain in the meeting notice how one may obtain a copy of the agenda for the meeting. At least with the 7/7/2016 meeting, the board seems to have done this. I contacted someone at the school about the issues and am waiting to hear back. I will follow up with you once I do. Thank you. Danee Garone Staff Attorney Arizona Ombudsman – Citizens’ Aide 602-277-7292
ben_report_final_april_4.docx