Delaware Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Delaware, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Can a Delaware town council discuss a public employee's performance plan in a string of emails, instead of holding a public meeting?
No. When the town's lawyer emailed the whole council asking for their comments on the plan and members replied with substantive opinions, that exchange became a 'meeting' under FOIA. Doing it by email…
How specific does a Delaware public body's agenda have to be when noticing an executive session for legal advice?
No violation. The AG ruled the Diamond State Port Corporation Board did not violate FOIA. Its agenda label of 'strategy sessions involving legal advice' adequately noticed the executive session, and a…
Can a Delaware school board hold an unannounced executive session about Robert's Rules and vote no confidence in the superintendent?
Yes for two of four claims. The AG ruled the Christina School Board violated FOIA by holding an unannounced executive session on parliamentary procedure (not a permitted purpose) and by failing to age…
Does Delaware law force a town to keep police discipline records secret, or to hold a grievance hearing in private?
No on both counts. The AG ruled Georgetown did not violate FOIA when it voluntarily released officer discipline records and schedules; FOIA's exemptions are permissive. And FOIA's executive-session pr…
Can a Delaware city use a vague 'matters discussed in executive session' agenda item to vote on hiring a new city solicitor with no public discussion?
No. Rehoboth Beach violated Delaware's open-meeting law twice: by voting on a new city solicitor without putting that decision on the agenda in 'plain and comprehensible' language, and by discussing t…
When a Delaware public body holds an executive session, can people who are not board members attend, and how specific does the executive session agenda have to be?
The Diamond State Port Corporation kept two grounds on its revised executive session agenda (legal-advice strategy and exempted-document content) and that was specific enough. But the Board violated F…
Can a Delaware board vote in public on 'administrative action discussed in executive session' without identifying which employee, when there are only three employees in the agency?
Yes, in narrow circumstances. The DIAA Board has only three employees. Naming the employee in the public motion would have exposed private personnel information about an identifiable individual. The A…
Can a Delaware city council take a discussion of police overtime, vacation, and city-vehicle use into a private executive session, and does the council have to put detailed background materials in the public meeting packet?
Not all of it. Dover City Council voted to defer Item 27 (special-event overtime, vacation, and city-vehicle usage) to a future executive session. The AG warned the Council that a general discussion o…
Can a Delaware town council vote on raises and a water-line project that aren't on the meeting agenda?
No. The AG ruled the Town of Blades violated FOIA by voting on employee bonuses, cost-of-living raises, and a water-line extension that never appeared on the meeting agenda, and by discussing general …
Does Delaware's FOIA open-meeting law cover the House of Representatives Ethics Committee, and can the AG decide a prior-restraint free-speech challenge inside a FOIA complaint?
No to both. 29 Del. C. § 10004(h)(7) expressly excludes legislative ethics committees from FOIA's open-meeting requirements, so the Committee's closed September 10, 2021 meeting did not violate FOIA. …
Can a Delaware public body list 'review financial data' on its agenda as a reason it might go into closed executive session?
No. The AG ruled the DAPE Finance Committee committed a technical FOIA violation when its November 10, 2020 agenda listed 'financial data' as a possible executive session purpose, because § 10004(b) d…
Can a Delaware administrative board deliberate in private even when FOIA's open-meeting rules would otherwise require the public to watch?
Yes. The AG ruled the Environmental Appeals Board did not violate FOIA when it deliberated on a Delmarsh, LLC appeal in executive session, because 7 Del. C. § 6008(a) is a later-enacted, more specific…
If a Delaware town commissioner blurts out a personnel comment in open session, does FOIA make that a violation?
No. The Delaware AG ruled the Town of Dewey Beach did not violate FOIA when a Town Commissioner briefly mentioned concerns about the Police Chief's effectiveness during an open meeting. The Town Manag…
Can a Delaware county discuss agricultural-easement purchases in executive session under the 'site acquisition' exemption?
Yes. The Delaware AG ruled Sussex County Council did not violate FOIA by holding executive sessions for the Agricultural Lands Preservation Program. Buying preservation easements is buying real proper…
Can a Delaware town go into executive session about selling city property and immediately vote on the sale in open session?
Yes. The Delaware AG ruled that a Rehoboth Beach Special Meeting agenda combining a § 10004(b)(2) executive session on a possible property sale with an open-session vote on the same matter satisfied F…
When a Delaware mayor asks two commissioners and the town manager during a public meeting to look into a FOIA complaint, does that trigger a new round of open-meeting requirements?
No. The AG found no FOIA violation: there was no evidence the individuals had met or were about to meet, a preliminary research request need not be on the meeting agenda, and the Town confirmed the ma…
When a Delaware city goes into executive session to discuss its draft response to a citizen's pending FOIA petition, which executive session exemption actually applies?
The pending-or-potential-litigation exemption in 29 Del. C. § 10004(b)(4) applied, because the FOIA petition process is a quasi-judicial proceeding that qualifies as litigation. The City's separate ci…
When can a Delaware town go into closed session to talk about rumored potential lawsuits or personnel matters?
The Delaware AG concluded South Bethany violated FOIA by holding an executive session for one topic based on a rumor of potential litigation, which is not an objective indicator. A second topic discus…
Are a city personnel committee's meetings public under Delaware FOIA, and can a city council go into executive session to discuss a wastewater transfer?
The Delaware AG concluded Rehoboth Beach violated FOIA twice: holding an executive session to discuss an attorney-client privileged memorandum without meeting the litigation-strategy requirements, and…
Can a Delaware city council go into executive session to get legal advice about zoning, then come back into open session and vote?
The Delaware AG concluded that the City of Lewes violated FOIA by using an executive session under the 'exempt-documents' provision to get general legal advice on a zoning decision and then voting on …
When a Delaware town council goes into executive session about a complaint against an appointed official, what makes that closed-door discussion legal under FOIA?
The AG concluded that Frankford Town Council properly used the personnel exception under 29 Del. C. § 10004(b)(9) because the executive session in-camera record showed an individual employee's compete…
Does a city staff committee count as a public body under Delaware's open meetings law if no elected official sits on it?
Yes, according to this opinion. The AG ruled that Seaford's Employee Benefit Committee was a public body under Delaware FOIA because the City Manager, a public official, appointed its members and the …
Does a Delaware town's executive session agenda have to specify the exact topic, like naming a police department, or can it just cite the legal exemption?
Just citing the exemption is enough. The AG found Dewey Beach's agendas, which only quoted the FOIA personnel and records exemptions, met the minimum notice requirement even though reporters couldn't …
Can the Delaware AG resolve a FOIA dispute when the two sides give completely contradictory accounts of what happened at a meeting?
No. The AG found it could not determine whether Dover's Ethics Commission held proper public votes to enter executive session or to dismiss an ethics complaint, because the requester and the Commissio…
Can a Delaware county keep the details of an ongoing land-purchase negotiation out of its public meeting minutes?
Yes, while the deal is still active. The AG found Sussex County Council could keep a redacted portion of its executive session minutes about an ongoing land acquisition confidential, since the purchas…
Can a Delaware police-funding committee hold a closed session to discuss a fraud investigation into grant money?
Yes. The AG found the State Aid to Local Law Enforcement Committee properly closed part of its meeting to review an active investigation into possible misuse of grant funds with the assigned investiga…
Is it a FOIA violation if a Delaware town posts meeting notice six days instead of seven before the meeting?
Yes, technically, but the AG found no remedy was needed because the only agenda item was a properly-noticed executive session and no substantive votes were taken at the meeting.
Does a Delaware county council violate FOIA if it votes on 'recommendations from executive session' without specifically noticing that vote on the agenda?
Not necessarily. The AG found New Castle County Council's Personnel Subcommittee did not violate FOIA by voting to direct legal research after an executive session, even though the agenda didn't flag …
Can a public body just label an agenda item 'New Business' or 'Other Business' without describing what it is?
Usually, yes. The AG found that a college board's use of generic agenda headings like 'New Business' and 'Other Business,' and the phrase 'Personnel and Legal' to justify an executive session, did not…
Does a mayor have to give 7 days' notice before an emergency meeting to discuss firing an employee?
No, not when it genuinely qualifies as an emergency. The AG found that a mayor's decision to call a same-day meeting to discuss an urgent personnel matter fell within FOIA's emergency-meeting exceptio…
Does a town violate Delaware's open meetings law by calling a special meeting on three days' notice to vote on firing an employee?
Yes, in part. The AG found that the Town of South Bethany violated FOIA by calling a special meeting on only three days' notice to discuss and vote on firing its Town Manager without showing the exige…
Can a school board discuss superintendent interview questions and hiring strategy behind closed doors?
No, according to this opinion. A school board discussed and planned interview questions and next steps in its superintendent search behind closed doors in executive session. The AG found this violated…
If meeting minutes show a board voted during a closed executive session, is that automatically a FOIA violation?
Not necessarily, according to this opinion. A charter school's approved meeting minutes appeared to show the board voting on a settlement while in a closed executive session, which would violate FOIA'…
Does a school board have to take a public vote before denying a parent's request, even if it never formally calls for a motion?
Yes, according to this opinion. A parent's attorney asked the Brandywine School Board to expunge a student's discipline record. The Board discussed the request in executive session under a vague "Lega…
Can a school board vote in executive session to stop a board member from recording the meeting?
Partly yes, partly no, according to this opinion. The Christina School Board properly discussed its superintendent's competency and abilities in executive session under FOIA's personnel-matters except…
Can a school board discuss and vote on renewing a superintendent's contract in a closed executive session?
No, according to this opinion. The Appoquinimink School Board violated Delaware's open meetings law by discussing the superintendent's contract renewal in executive session (personnel-matter sessions …
Can a county council use generic boilerplate language on every meeting agenda to reserve the right to go into executive session on any topic?
No FOIA violation was found here, but the AG warned that using generic boilerplate language listing every possible executive-session exemption on every agenda, regardless of whether the Council actual…
Can a school board hire a new superintendent behind closed doors without telling the public it planned to vote?
No. The AG found that the Woodbridge School Board violated Delaware's open-meetings law by not disclosing it would vote on the superintendent's resignation and replacement, and by privately discussing…
Can a school board's vote to extend a superintendent's contract be thrown out for violating the open meetings law?
Yes. The AG found that the Capital School District Board's failure to tell attendees it planned to reconvene in a second closed session and then vote violated Delaware's open-meetings law, and invalid…
After a school board's raise vote gets invalidated for a notice problem, does redoing that vote have to preview every detail critics want, like an advance copy of a supporting presentation?
No, under the law as it stood in 2012. After the AG invalidated the Capital School District Board's first vote on a 5% administrator raise for lacking proper notice, the AG upheld the Board's redone F…
Is there a deadline for asking Delaware's Attorney General to investigate an old open-meetings complaint?
Yes, in practice, under the law as it stood in 2012. The AG dismissed a resident's FOIA petition over a 2010 wind turbine agreement as untimely because it was filed more than two years after the meeti…
What happens when a Delaware town council repeatedly holds closed-door meetings without explaining why?
It can't. Delaware's FOIA requires town councils to state the specific reason for any closed executive session and to list major agenda items in advance. The AG found Dewey Beach's Town Council violat…
Can a Delaware school board post only a 'Tentative Agenda' instead of a final one before its meetings?
No, under the law as it stood in 2012. The AG found the Caesar Rodney School Board violated FOIA by posting only 'Tentative Agendas' (misleadingly implying a final version would follow) and by not sta…
Can a school board approve a raise for administrators by adding it to the meeting agenda only after the meeting has already begun?
No, under the law as it stood in 2012. The AG invalidated the Capital School District Board's vote granting administrators a five percent raise because the item never appeared on the agenda until afte…
Can a school board discuss a lawsuit update or pay-period costs behind closed doors in Delaware?
Partly, the AG found. Laurel School Board mislabeled a job-applicant discussion as a personnel matter but didn't have to fix that because the public was otherwise well informed, while its executive-se…
Did a Delaware county council violate open-meetings law by hiring a new administrator through closed-door committee sessions?
Partly, the AG found. Sussex County Council improperly redacted executive-session minutes without explanation and held one improper executive session, but later public meetings fixed that; its search …
Can a city council reveal job candidates' names and discuss the hiring process for a new city attorney in a closed personnel session?
No, under the law as it stood in 2011. The AG found that after New Castle's city council properly handled a personnel matter in executive session, it violated FOIA by using that same closed session to…
Can a Delaware town committee hold private meetings to pick a new police chief and keep the applications secret?
Mixed result, the AG found. Smyrna's police-chief hiring subcommittee had violated FOIA's open-meetings rules (no notice, no minutes, no proper executive session), but the applications themselves stay…
Can a Delaware city committee meet privately to interview vendors competing for a public contract?
Yes, on the substance, the AG found: interviewing and ranking competing engineering firms' confidential proposals qualified for FOIA's trade-secrets exemption. But the city still violated FOIA because…
Can a Delaware town council meet privately with a developer to renegotiate impact fee payment terms without telling the public first?
No, under the law as it stood in 2008. The AG found Cheswold's town council violated FOIA three ways when it privately met with a developer's representatives to renegotiate impact fee payment terms: i…
Does a Delaware town have to name a specific person in the meeting agenda before voting to remove them from a volunteer board?
No, under the law as it stood in 2007. The AG found that listing 'Executive Session if needed to discuss personnel matters' on the agenda gave adequate notice before the Cheswold Town Council privatel…
Can a Delaware school board discuss superintendent candidates, salary, and a search firm's advice behind closed doors?
Under the law as it stood in 2006, yes for the personnel and search-firm portions, according to the AG. But the board also strayed into procedural matters (search timeline, elections, website notices)…
If a Delaware town redacts parts of its executive session meeting minutes, who has to prove the redaction was justified?
The town does, according to this opinion. The AG upheld redactions for still-pending land purchases, litigation, and personnel matters, but ordered disclosure of portions covering routine police admin…
If a Delaware board privately discusses and decides an appeal without a valid reason for executive session, does that automatically undo its decision?
Not necessarily, according to this opinion. The AG found the board violated FOIA's open meeting law by deliberating in private without any of the law's nine authorized reasons, but declined to order a…
Can a Delaware town council privately settle on a budget before the meeting and then just rubber-stamp it during a closed executive session?
No, under the law as it stood in 2005. The AG found the Town of Cheswold violated FOIA when its town manager privately ran the final 2005-2006 budget figures by council members before a July 7, 2005 m…
Can Delaware council members who are sued individually meet privately with the county attorney about their defense strategy?
Yes, according to this opinion. FOIA authorizes a public body to discuss pending litigation strategy with its attorney in executive session when an open meeting would hurt its litigation position, and…
Can a Delaware town withhold months of executive session minutes just by labeling the sessions Personnel and Legal Issues?
No, under the law as it stood in 2005. The AG found the Town of Middletown had no lawful basis to withhold months of executive session minutes, since most of what its council actually discussed behind…
Can a Delaware town discuss ordinary contracts, tax delinquencies, and town hall space in a closed personnel-and-legal executive session?
No, under the law as it stood in 2005. The AG found the Town of Dagsboro violated FOIA by discussing six of eight matters, zoning-compliance procedures, two ongoing contracts, town hall space, tax del…
Can a Delaware county council add a contract vote and an executive session to its agenda at the start of the same meeting?
No, under the law as it stood in 2005. The AG found Sussex County Council violated FOIA by adding both a fence-contract change order and a request for an executive session on land acquisition to its a…
Can a Delaware school district withhold job interview scoring sheets from a FOIA request to protect the applicants' privacy?
Yes, according to this opinion. Even though FOIA's personnel-file exemption doesn't technically apply to job applicants, the AG found a common-law privacy exemption protects interview panel scoring sh…
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Attorney general opinions in Delaware are written by the Delaware Attorney General's office in response to questions from state agencies, legislators, and prosecutors. They are not binding like court decisions, but courts and agencies treat them as persuasive guidance on how state law applies. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original text.