The board had already had to shift the meeting venue to a larger room after about 30 people turned up to take part in the public forum at 5pm and make their views known on a motion by board member Barry Monks to shift management of the trust back to Oamaru from the Ashburton Licensing Trust when it was due to be renewed in April.
That motion was to be considered in the "public excluded" part of the meeting after the public forum.
However, the meeting did not continue, after retired Oamaru accountant Tony Brady told the board it had breached the Act.
He said the board's agenda for last night's meeting, its minutes from its December meeting and the resolution to exclude the public were all illegal under the Act.
The Act lays out procedures to be followed for public meetings. A schedule to the Act lists organisations, including licensing trusts, which must obey the Act.
Mr Brady said if the board was not aware of the Act he would be surprised.
For example, a brief agenda available just before the meeting (they are supposed to be available two working days before) listed apologies, confirmation of annual general meeting minutes and the third item was "public excluded".
That read: "That the board move into committee and the public be excluded from the meeting which is about to consider matters concerning staff, equipment, trading results and consumers for the reason that publicity would be prejudicial to the public interest by reason of the confidential nature of the business to be transacted."
Mr Brady said that motion was not legal under the Act and the agenda should have listed what items were to be considered with the public excluded.
That also applied to the public excluded minutes from the December meeting.
Mr Brady suggested the trust needed to adjourn yesterday's meeting to take legal advice.
While expressing disappointment that it "had come to this", trust chairman Ali Brosnan allowed members of the public to speak, then adjourned the meeting.
He said advice would be sought about the correct procedures under the Act, which would be followed when the trust called its next meeting.
A "show of hands" before the meeting adjourned indicated that more than half of the people at the meeting supported shifting management of the trust back to Oamaru.
Mr Monks believed there needed to be Oamaru-based management by people with local knowledge and he had encouraged people to make their views known, including at the public forum before yesterday's meeting.
