CHICORA — When a citizen recorded a borough council meeting last week, the members quickly adjourned. But after the incident, council members received a quick refresher on Pennsylvania’s open meeting law.

Susan Callender said she was using her phone to record the Aug. 13 council meeting when James Turner, council vice president, asked her if she was taping the public event.

On the video, which she provided to the Eagle, Callender can be heard saying she was recording.

Turner responded by saying Callender didn’t have his permission to record the meeting.

Callender replied, saying the meeting was public and video taping it was legal.

Turner told her that she couldn’t tape him without permission.

She responded by saying she was taping the meeting.

Turner then made a motion to adjourn the meeting, the motion received a second and the meeting ended with a vote to adjourn.

But some council members continued talking after the apparent adjournment.

“They didn’t know I had the right to record,” Callender said. “Apparently they’re not aware of the Sunshine law, that you’re allowed to video (record public government meetings).”

Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act, the open meeting law, allows public meetings to be recorded or video taped.

Councilman James Fallacker declined to comment about the incident. None of the other council members or Mayor Lisa Nagy could be reached for comment.

Solicitor Andrew Menchyk, who did not attend the meeting, said council is aware of the Sunshine Act, but they were surprised when Callender started recording and adjourned the meeting to ask him to explain rules for recording meetings.

“She came in late and began recording. Council was surprised and adjourned the meeting for purposes of clarifying her ability to do so,” Menchyk said.

Callender, who was found not guilty of the three animal nuisance citations the borough filed against her this year for keeping ducks on her property, said she started recording the meeting after arriving about 20 minutes late.

She said she believes council violated the state’s Sunshine Act by abruptly adjourning the meeting after questioning her about recording, and she will record the next one.

“I’ll be there next month. I’ll probably have a better camera and separate microphone,” Callender said.

Menchyk said council didn’t violate the Sunshine Act.

“Council’s well aware of the Sunshine law. At no time did borough council ask her to leave. At no time did borough council ask her to stop. It’s my understanding they adjourned to discuss the issue with me because I wasn’t there. I’ve reviewed it with council since,” Menchyk said. “At no time did council do anything in violation of the act.”

Government agencies like the borough can set rules for recording public meetings to prevent recordings from being disruptive to meetings, but they can’t interfere with a person’s right under the law to record, said Melissa Melewsky, media law council for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association.

“The borough can implement reasonable rules and regulations to govern the use of recording equipment during public meetings, but those rules cannot interfere with the right to record or the intent of the law to facilitate and encourage public access,” Melewsky said.