Government Relations Committee THE MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL


by Kimberly K. Egan - MHC President


On September 8, the Maryland Horse Council sent the following letter to Greg Cross, the Chair of the new Toroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority.


“Dear Mr. Cross: I am writing on behalf of the Maryland Horse Council (MHC), the


trade association that represents all sectors of the Maryland horse indus- try, including racing.[1] We are concerned that the Toroughbred Race- track Operating Authority (TROA) is not complying with the Mary- land Open Meetings Act, and we are concerned that the Toroughbred racing sector will be unfairly penalized by the public as a result. Specifically, TROA has: (i) not provided adequate public notice of its meetings; (ii) not given the public an opportunity to observe the mem- bers of the body during the meetings; and (iii) not complied with the legal requirements for going into a closed session.


I. Adequate Notice TROA has not provide adequate notice of its meetings. Maryland’s Open Meetings Act requires that “the public be provided with adequate notice of the time and location of meetings of public bodies, which shall be held in places reasonably accessible to individuals who would like to attend these meetings.”


§ 3-102(c) (emphasis added). Te Act also


requires that TROA “make an agenda available when [it] posts notice, or, if the agenda has not been determined at the time of notice, . . . make the agenda, available as soon as practicable, but, for most bodies, at least 24 hours before the meeting.” § 3-302.1 Te first public meeting on August 3 was sufficiently poorly adver- tised that virtually no-one in the industry, much less the general public, was aware that it was happening. Neither the Maryland Horse Industry Board (MHIB), which is the state agency that licenses and promotes the Maryland horse industry (including Toroughbred racing), the Mary- land Horse Council, nor the editor of Te Equiery magazine – which covers the Maryland horse industry (including Toroughbred racing) – received notice. Numerous other journalists who cover the industry for Te Baltimore Sun, Te Washington Post, and the racing trade press, were unaware, as were several members of the Maryland Racing Commis- sion itself. Te only reason some of these individuals and organizations learned about the meeting was because select individuals who had re- ceived an email from TROA forwarded the information to others. Te second public meeting, on August 23, was equally poorly adver-


tised, and many of these same horse industry members learned of it less than two days ahead of time. No information of any kind about the meeting is posted on TROA’s website, not even the fact that it occurred, nor are any future meeting dates posted there. Te third public meeting, on September 8, was also never posted on


the TROA, or any other, website. TROA emailed the notice to an in- complete distribution list at 1:13 p.m. the day before the meeting. Te horse industry did not learn of the meeting until 2 p.m. that day by virtue


of a privately-run Facebook group. It is unclear whether the rest of the interested public ever learned about the meeting at all. In addition, the meeting was scheduled for a live racing day during the Maryland State Fair, making it unreasonably difficult for an important part of the inter- ested public to attend. According to the Open Meetings Compliance Board (“the Board)


“the touchstone of ‘reasonableness’ is whether a public body gives notice of a future meeting as soon as is practicable after it has fixed the date, time, and place of the meeting,” 5 OMCB Opinions 83, 84 (2006), and whether the method of notice is calculated to reach the interested public. TROA must surely have known earlier than 1:13 p.m. on September 7 that it planned to hold a meeting at noon on September 8. In addition, the Open Meetings Act defines “reasonable notice” to


include publication in the Maryland Register and “delivery to represen- tatives of the news media who regularly report on sessions of the public body or the activities of the government of which the public body is a part.” Te Equiery magazine is the only industry-wide publication dedi- cated to covering Maryland’s horse industry, and the Maryland Horse Council is the only industry-wide organization that monitors the legisla- tive and executive branches of Maryland state government. Moreover, in early August, we at the Maryland Horse Council asked


Darlene Rondinelli in your office to include us on the distribution list for the TROA meeting notices, which request she has not honored. I repeated my request to both you and Ms. Rondinelli at 4:45 p.m. on September 7, the day before the last meeting. I have received no response. Even if TROA had posted information about the August 3, August 23


and September 8 meetings on its website, however, website notices “are not always the most effective way (or even an effective way) for every public body to reach its own interested public.” 13 OMCB Opinions 9 (2019) (emphasis added). In addition, the Act permits a public body to “post the notice on an Internet website ordinarily used by the public body to provide information to the public” only if “the public body previously has given public notice that this method will be used.” § 3-302(c). TROA has not only never told the public that it plans to use the web-


site for public notices (presumably because it is not, in fact, using the website), it has never told the interested public what method it will use at all – if any. We recommend that TROA comply with the Open Meetings Act


notice requirements by providing written notice, with agendas, on its website as soon as each meeting is scheduled; and by sending the notice and agenda by email to a minimum of MHIB, MHC and Te Equiery (as now requested twice); each individual member of the Maryland Racing Commission; and all of the journalists at racing desks at Te Baltimore Sun, Te Washington Post; and all local Maryland press, such as the Bal- timore Banner. MHIB, MHC, and the local press can help TROA reach the vast majority of the rest of TROA’s interested public.


continued...


MHC does not endorse political candidates. We support incumbents who are in a position to support, or have already supported, the horse industry on general policy issues and in specific pieces of legislation.


www.equiery.com | 800-244-9580 THE EQUIERY YOUR MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL PUBLICATION | OCTOBER 2023 | 55


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