The MuNews

Public Vote = Final Decision

 In In re Appeal of Arnold, 147 C.D. 2009 (Commonwealth Court, filed August 13, 2009), the Commonwealth Court has clarified when a Board makes a final decision.  In this case, the Appellant argued that it was not the public vote in December that was the final decision, but rather the date when the written decision was issued in January.   The Appellant opposed a conditional use for a Wal-Mart that was approved by a 2-1 vote.  One of the supervisors who voted for the conditional use did not win re-election, and the Apellant argued that the “final” written decision was only a 1-1 vote. The Commonwealth Court did not buy that argument.   The Commonwealth Court noted that the Sunshine Act requires that all votes must be publicly cast and must take place at a meeting open to the public.  The only purpose of a written decision under the MPC is to explain the reasoning and basis for the vote – not to vote again.  To hold otherwise would open the door to a governing body voting one way at the open meeting and then issuing a written final decision at odds with the vote.