The Michigan Court of Appeals recently issued an unpublished decision in Heart of the Lakes Community Inc. v. West Bloomfield School District which provides a little more guidance on Open Meetings Act compliance as it relates to delegation of authority for the purpose of determining whether an entity, e.g., school board committee, or an individual is a “public body” subject to the requirements of OMA.  

Since the recent court decisions in Pinebrook Warren, LLC v. City of Warren and Exclusive Capital Partners, LLC v. Royal Oak, there have been questions about where the line is between advisory capacity and a delegation of authority. (For additional information and guidance on this issue, please see the Spring 2025 edition of MASB’s LeaderBoard magazine, “Is a School Board Committee a ‘Public Body’ Under the Open Meetings Act?” Pg. 8)    

Prior to Pinebrook and Exclusive Capital Partners, there were two touchstone cases on the issue. The first case was Booth Newspapers, Inc. v. University of Michigan Board of Regents, where the court determined OMA was violated when the Board of Regents appointed itself as the presidential selection committee and then proceeded to do everything behind closed doors until the final vote to appoint the new president. The second case was Herald Co. v. Bay City, where the court determined the city commission did not delegate its authority to select a new fire chief to the city manager because the City Charter required it to make its appointment based on the recommendation of the city manager. 

In the Heart of the Lakes case, the appeals court recognized that the school board did not delegate its authority to another entity or individual when it was following a statutory process outlined in the Revised School Code on how to solicit bids for work on buildings. In addition, the court found the district’s construction management company and the Assistant Superintendent for Facilities and Operations (neither of whom were considered “public bodies” on their own under OMA) were not authorized to perform any of the school board’s functions by delegation. They simply assisted the board in understanding the bids, while the board retained the authority to accept or reject bids, which it did in a public meeting.   

It is always good to make sure your board practices and procedures comply with the Open Meetings Act. If you have any questions on this or any other matter, contact our Legal team.