WRIGHTSVILLE — Starting Dec. 21, borough councils across Pennsylvania, including Wrightsville’s and Columbia’s, will have a harder time adding surprise items to their meetings.
Wrightsville’s solicitor briefed council Monday on the new law, which closes a loophole in the state’s Sunshine Act, the open-meetings law that says the public must see a meeting’s agenda at least 24 hours ahead.
Until now, boards could add a new item at the last minute with a simple majority vote. Under the new law, that’s no longer enough on its own. Last-minute items will be allowed only in a few cases, such as a true emergency, a very minor matter, or an issue a resident raises at the meeting.
The solicitor said councils also can’t use a last-minute addition to spend money, approve a contract or pass an ordinance that wasn’t on the agenda.
The point, he said, is to give residents “an opportunity to discuss things before you actually take action.”
The law grew out of a 2021 fight in Lehigh County. A school board there added a last-minute item to approve a teachers’ union contract. Jarrett Coleman sued, lost at the state Supreme Court, and later became a state senator. He co-sponsored the bill, which passed the House 182-21 and was signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro in October, according to Spotlight PA.
In response, a Wrightsville council member proposed a new rule: everything for a meeting agenda must be turned in by 11 a.m. the Thursday before, so staff can post it Friday. “If it’s not in by Thursday,” the council member said, “tough crap.”
