BUTLER TWP — A township advisory board on gas wells will meet behind closed doors.

Township solicitor Larry Lutz said court precedent indicates the public can be restricted from attending meetings of a township committee.

According to Lutz, private meetings are permissible as long as the discussion is not directly related to a decision coming before the township commissioners.

He cited the civil case heard by the state Supreme Court of Smith v. Richmond Township in 2013 as support for the committee holding private sessions.

In that case, James Smith, a Richmond resident, accused township supervisors of violating the state Sunshine Act that mandates government boards must meet in public.

In the Richmond case, the court ruled a municipality may hold predecisional and predeliberative fact-finding meetings in private.

Butler Township’s seven-person committee will research topics related to the oil and gas industry, then present recommendations to the commissioners.

Township officials initially said the committee may do community outreach, presenting findings to residents.

However, township officials said at the Monday commissioners meeting that the committee would meet privately.

Melissa Melewski, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, disagreed with the township’s reasoning.

Melewski said particular court cases don’t supersede state regulations.

“They don’t rewrite the law,” she said.

Under the Sunshine Act, government-appointed committees are included as types of entities that must convene in open session.

According to Section 703, the term agency is defined as: “The body, and all committees thereof authorized by the body to take official action or render advice on matters of agency business.”

Melewski said committees provide information leading to decision-making by the governing board.

She explained committees often do the bulk of work in crafting policies the governing body enacts.

“What happens at the board level is often little or nothing,” Melewski said.

She said it’s self-defeating to set up a committee that meets in private.

“I would presume elected officials would want public input,” Melewski said.