Sheridan Newspapers, Inc. v. Board of Trustees

Summary

The Wyoming Supreme Court considered whether executive-session minutes of the Sheridan County School District Board of Trustees were confidential under the Wyoming Public Meetings Act. The court held that the minutes concerning legal advice and potential real-estate sites were too vague to reveal privileged or price-sensitive information and therefore were not confidential. It reversed the summary judgment order and remanded with instructions to release the minutes relating to real estate and potential sites near or at the high school.

Holdings

1. In the context of the Wyoming Public Meetings Act, the agency bears the burden of proving that nondisclosure of executive-session minutes is supported by the Act.
2. Executive sessions held to obtain legal advice concerning matters involving the high school and Sheridan recreation were authorized under the Wyoming Public Meetings Act's exception for information classified as confidential by law, but the minutes were not confidential because they disclosed no substantive attorney-client communications.
3. Minutes that merely mention potential sites and recite the statutory ground for an executive session are not entitled to confidential treatment when they do not identify the sites or disclose information whose release could likely increase real-estate prices.
4. The common-law deliberative-process privilege does not apply under the Wyoming Public Meetings Act.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Board met its burden of showing that nondisclosure of the executive-session minutes was supported by the Wyoming Public Meetings Act.
2. Whether executive sessions in which the district attorney provided legal advice concerning the high school and recreational facility were authorized under the confidential-information exception and whether the corresponding minutes were confidential.
3. Whether minutes concerning potential real-estate sites were confidential under the exception permitting executive sessions to consider site selection or real-estate purchases when publicity would likely increase the price.
4. Whether the common-law deliberative-process privilege applies under the Wyoming Public Meetings Act.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded