The Calvert County Board of County Commissioners says it will publicly address a state finding that it violated Maryland’s Open Meetings Act at its Aug. 18 meeting, and will not comment further on the matter before then.
The commissioners’ statement, issued Aug. 12, comes two days after Maryland’s Open Meetings Compliance Board ruled the county failed to adequately explain, in writing, why it closed several meetings to the public over the past year — a finding first reported by the Southern Maryland Chronicle on Aug. 12. The county said the board’s opinion acknowledges the county has already changed its closed-session protocol to provide required information before convening in closed session, rather than after the fact.
“The Board takes its responsibilities under the Maryland Open Meetings Act seriously and has already implemented changes to its closed-session practices,” the county said in its statement. “The Board will continue refining those procedures to strengthen transparency and public access and ensure compliance with Maryland law.”
The county’s statement does not dispute the Compliance Board’s findings and offers no further detail beyond confirming it is aware of the opinion. County officials said no additional statements or responses to inquiries about the ruling will be made before the Aug. 18 meeting.
As previously reported, the board’s Aug. 10 opinion found the commissioners violated two sections of the Open Meetings Act — one requiring a detailed written statement before closing a meeting, another requiring a detailed summary afterward — while clearing the county of a separate complaint that its website design made public records too hard to find. The board found the county’s past practice was to disclose only the legal justification for a closed session beforehand, sometimes writing simply “see memo” where the topics under discussion should have been described, and to attach fuller explanations only after the closed session had already happened. The board also flagged closed-session announcements from March and August 2025 for using language that closely echoed the statute itself rather than giving the public real information, and found closed-session summaries from May 2025 and April 2026 involving business-retention discussions were similarly vague.
The Compliance Board cannot force Calvert County to change its practices — it can only issue advisory opinions — but its rulings are frequently cited in future disputes and often prompt local governments to revise their procedures.
It remains to be seen whether the commissioners will offer additional detail or take questions on the ruling when they address it publicly on Aug. 18.
