If this is the agenda they broke the open meeting law by meeting at 6 and voting to go into executive session.

bbrady wrote:

Not so fast.  It's the posted notification of the 6:00 o'clock meeting you need documentation of.  What we have here is simply the agenda for the 7:00 posted notification.  If there was no posting for them to meet at 6:00, then they have violated the open meeting law.  If it was posted for 6:00 and they did not start in open session, then again they violated the open meeting law.
Then there is the whole question of whether or not they posted, opened and entered into executive session for the proper reasons.

That's why I keep posting the link to the open meeting law.

I don't see how it could be spelled out more clearly.

If the posted notification was for 7 PM they broke the law if they started the meeting at 6PM.

"No executive session shall be held until the governmental body has first convened in an open session for which notice has been given, a majority of the members have voted to go into executive session and the vote of each member is recorded on a roll call vote and entered into the minutes, the presiding officer has cited the purpose for an executive session, and the presiding officer has stated before the executive session if the governmental body will reconvene after the executive session."

The "duh factor" is that the reason for the open meeting law is to assure that meetings are open, and, duh, that means that the public knows when they are going to be.

To keep the transparency that you want in local government you can't go around starting a meeting that everyone expects always starts at 7 and start it an hour early.

I mean, of course, the transparency that you and I think most residents want in Wareham.

I would if I was a Wareham resident. I fully understand why town employees are reluctant to do so. Whistle blowers laws are supposed to protect you but sometimes the heat employees take isn't worth it.

This doesn't mean a town employee can't set up a meeting to discuss  in confidence what they know, or send letters, and present documentation. The DA, AG and Ethics Commission are there for a reason. Sometimes you have to take the leap and trust someone.

Documents often speak for themselves. The DA, AG or Ethics Commission frequently don't need anything more than someone to point them in the right direction.

For all any of us know any of these three independent agencies may have a file started on some of the officials in Wareham.

Last edited by urneighbor (2009-07-22 17:50:12)

Mixie wrote:

bbrady wrote:

Not so fast.  It's the posted notification of the 6:00 o'clock meeting you need documentation of.  What we have here is simply the agenda for the 7:00 posted notification.  If there was no posting for them to meet at 6:00, then they have violated the open meeting law.  If it was posted for 6:00 and they did not start in open session, then again they violated the open meeting law.
Then there is the whole question of whether or not they posted, opened and entered into executive session for the proper reasons.

Since I received the email of the 7 p.m. meeting, wouldn't/shouldn't I have received an email of the 6:00 p.m. meeting if it were posted?

My opinion, consistent with the open meeting law:
YES

Ethics commision complaints are confidential. The other two, you'll have to sign your name to.

Marny,
They will refer you to the DA's office of Plymouth County. I've been down that route. I guess what we need to do is start figuring out how we can push the voter issue with the DA to get HIS attention.

Larry:
You want attention from the DA, vote in another one.