Vermont State University Board of Trustees on Friday ratified an Aug. 5 executive committee action approving a new contract for the university's part-time faculty unit, taking the vote to cure a technical Open Meeting Law issue after the committee had no physical meeting location on the date it acted. The board voted in favor after hearing an explanation from the university's general counsel about the legal necessity of the ratification. General Counsel Patty Turley told trustees the executive committee approved the contract on Aug. 5 but that a change to the Open Meeting Law makes an action taken on behalf of the full board require, in addition to a remote meeting, a designated physical location. "This is a relatively new section of the open meeting law," Turley said, and the board was taking a "curative action" because no physical location had been provided for the Aug. 5 meeting. Turley said the executive committee acted because the contract needed to be in place before the start of a new semester and the committee voted on behalf of the board to avoid waiting for the next full-board meeting. She described the part-time faculty unit as longstanding and the new agreement as a "mature contract" that included relatively minor adjustments and compensation increases. Turley said the unit had not received an increase the prior year while in status quo; the parties agreed to a retroactive increase she described as about 3.5% for the prior year, a 2% increase for the current year and what she recalled as 2.5% going forward. Trustees asked clarifying questions about the statutory requirement and the cure process; Turley said the Open Meeting Law provides a mechanism to cure violations and that the board had not received complaints about lack of a physical location for the August meeting. After discussion, a trustee moved to ratify the executive committee action; the motion was seconded and trustees indicated assent by voice. The board recorded no objections in the meeting transcript. The ratification confirms the terms negotiated over several meetings between the university and the part-time faculty unit and records the board's formal approval to cure the location issue raised under the Open Meeting Law. The board also noted there had been no reported inability to attend the August meeting in person and that no formal complaints had been filed about the meeting location. The trustees did not change the substance of the contract during the ratification; the vote was limited to confirming the executive committee's earlier approval.