WHEREAS,      The Alabama Open Meetings Act, #2005-40 shall become effective October 1, 2005, and the Act states governing bodies that do not have statewide jurisdiction shall provide direct notification of a meeting to any member of the public or news media covering that governmental body who has registered with the governing body to receive notification of meetings and;

WHEREAS,     The Alabama Open Meetings Act states a governmental body may promulgate reasonable rules and regulations necessary for  the uniform registration and payment for direct notice for the distribution of the notices and;

WHEREAS,     The Alabama Open Meetings Act states the governmental body may choose how they wish to transmit direct meeting notification and;

WHEREAS,     The Town of Crossville desires to establish a policy to comply with the public notification section of Act 2005-40

THEREFORE BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED by the Town Council of the Town of Crossville, Alabama, as follows:

SECTION 1.    That the Town Council of the Town of Crossville sets the following policy in regards to direct meeting notification.

SECTION 2.    It shall be the policy of the Town of Crossville to transmit all direct meeting notifications by electronic mail via the internet. This method of public notification shall not incur any additional cost to the Town of Crossville or the registered person receiving the notification.

SECTION 3.    A public notification registry shall be compiled by the Town Clerk for the Town of Crossville. Persons wishing to sign up for direct public notification of meetings held by the Town Council, Planning Commission, Zoning Board of Adjustments and any other sub-committee of the Town of Crossville shall register with the Town Clerk for direct public notification. A direct notification form provided by the Town Clerk must be complete by the applicant and either hand delivered or mailed to the clerk in order for the application to be considered valid.

SECTION 4.    Following application, the applicant’s name shall be added to the registry of those who shall receive direct notice of all future meetings, provided that notice may not be given for meetings held within one week of the receipt of the application so that the clerk may have time to update the list.

SECTION 5.     A person’s name may be removed from the registry if the town has information that indicates the e-mail address is no longer valid or that the applicant is not checking their messages. If the direct notification e-mail is returned to the clerk more than three times, then the applicant’s name shall be removed from the direct notification list. Misuse of the e-mail notification in any manner will also result in removal from the list and may constitute grounds to prevent future applicant to receive direct meeting notice by the offending individual.

SECTION 6.    The Town of Crossville is not responsible in the event of any notice failure that is not due to a fault of its own. The Town reserves the right to use alternative methods of notification such as fax, telephone and/or mail if for technical reasons electronic means are unavailable at the time the notification is needed. Persons wishing to receive public notification via the U.S. Postal Service shall pay in advance the cost of printing and postage of the public notification. Said cost of printing and postage will be determined at the time the notification is complied.

SECTION 7.     All meeting notifications shall be posted in a timely manner at the Crossville Town Hall on the bulletin board. All notifications shall include the type of meeting to be held, date, time and location of said meeting.

     NOW THEREFORE in compliance with the Alabama Open Meetings Act 2005-40, the above stated, “direct public notification policy” is hereby approved by the Crossville Town Council on the 1st day of November, 2005.
 
 
 

                                                                                             __________/s/__________ 
                                                                                             JAMES T. JOHNSTON
                                                                                             MAYOR
 
 

ATTEST: ______/s/_____________ 
                 DEBBIE J. BRUCE CMC
                 TOWN CLERK