One of the most popular sessions at every Maryland Planning Commissioners Association (MPCA) Conference is the Open Meetings Act (OMA) Training. The Maryland Attorney General’s Office website describes the OMA as requiring “many State and local public bodies to hold their meetings in public, to give the public adequate notice of those meetings, and to allow the public to inspect meetings minutes.”
In spring 2020, a truly impressive coalition of Mid-Atlantic planning organizations came together to discuss a multi-state digital training series, scheduled for this fall. This initiative is a group effort including West Virginia University’s Land Use and Sustainable Development Law Clinic, the Maryland Department of Planning, Maryland Planning Commissioners Association, Rural Planning Caucus of Virginia, and the APA Chapters for Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and the National Capital Area. That is a lot of planning expertise!
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