Selectmen questioned on Open Meeting Law compliance
By Caitlyn Kelleher Journal Reporter

Resident Alan Pease Wednesday raised his concern about the selectmen's lack of posting the continuation of a joint meeting between themselves and the finance committee, as well as a lack of access to public records.

Pease said the posted meeting started on Feb. 28 and then was continued to March 5 and March 20 without postings.

"You can't escape posting a meeting," Pease said.

A continued meeting can only take up issues that were on the agenda for the original meeting and cannot take up new business.

Pease said the selectmen voted on a request to transfer funds out of the reserve account on March 20 and therefore took up new business.

He said does not want to make the selectmen and finance committee redo all the budget work that went on during those meetings, but said he wants new steps taken in the future.

"I don't think we've ever posted a continued meeting," said Board Chairman Peter McMurray. "Moving forward I don't have a problem posting."

McMurray and Town Administrator Linda Sanders said the town's attorney had advised the selectmen they did not have to post meetings that have been continued to another time.

Pease said the Middlesex District Attorney's Office disagreed with that interpretation of the law.

In Massachusetts meetings of governmental bodies must be conducted according to the state's open meeting laws. The law states that meetings must be posted 48 hours in advance of the meeting after being filed with the town clerk's office.

In a briefing book created by the Middlesex DA's office the open meeting law states that "it will be necessary to adjourn the meeting to a date that will permit the governmental body to cause notice to be filed and posted at least forty-eight hours in advance, unless the circumstances require the adjourned meeting to be an emergency meeting."

The book goes on to say if the boards do not want a delay in meeting, members can decide to "file and post meetings for consecutive dates."

The state's district attorneys are responsible for enforcing the Open Meeting Law.

After the selectmen's meeting, McMurray said the board historically hasn't posted continuations of meetings. He said they continued the meeting with the finance committee instead of considering it a new meeting because "it was all about the budget. We were just talking about the same information."

Pease also questioned the ability to access the video recordings of the meetings, which are now being done by the town instead of Comcast Cable Company.

"Now that you are doing it they are public documents," Pease said.

The selectmen and Sanders were concerned because they don't know how to make copies of the recordings. Sanders said she also does not have the time to invest into making copies or into determining how all the machines work.

"I can't handle that here," she said.

McMurray said at the moment if residents want to view the recordings they will have to sit in Town Hall to do so. He said the town needs to seek volunteers to take on the responsibility of the taping and the recordings.

In other business:

+ Sanders said there is still discussion about some of the punch list items for the library construction. There is another meeting scheduled today regarding the items. Selectman Gerald Houle told Sanders to try to make clearing the silt in the water main part of the punch list items.

+ The board received an update from Pease, a member of the planning board, and Land Use Administrator Andrew Leonard on the proposed changes to the cluster development zoning bylaw.

Leonard said the proposed revisions are updating the bylaw based on developing case law as well as to develop wording to match the original intent.

"The goal is to get a developer to preserve some of the characteristics of the town," Leonard said.

The original bylaw has been on the town's books for two years and has yet to be used.