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Unless they were very careful, the HP council members probably violated the open meetings law anyway - at least the letter of the law. Unlike in Greensboro, the High Point council uses a committee system to deal with various subjects. There's a public safety committee, public works, etc...

A quorum of those committees, which in my days of covering that council could have been just two or three people, counts toward the open meetings requirements.

That's why a certain mayor back in the day would haul council members by ones and twos into his office, carefully selecting who came in to privately discuss matters at the same time.

That's interesting Mark. I hadn't even thought about the make-up of the two groups constituting one of the smaller committees, which they still use.

The practice of serial meetings on the same topic to skirt public notification is called a "constructive quorum." In some states, I know Michigan and Nevada in particular, judges have deemed it to be an illegal practice even though it might satisfy the letter of the state law. In Indiana on the other hand, a state judge sided with Indiana University when its Board of Trustees used the practice to fire Bob Knight. I'm not aware of any cases in North Carolina, but it's an interesting legal question.

Thanks Mr. Jones. At least now I know the official term for the (good-ole-boy, wink & nod, under the legal & public scrutiny radar) tactics that have ruled towns and burbs in North Carolina for decades.

It's a "constructive quorum".

My Daddy called it "mountain justice".

Laws are just words on paper if they're not enforced (or only applied selectively and according to "quorum").