The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold special meetings on May 15, 2014 at 12:00 noon and May 16, 2014 at 8:00am am in the Selectboard meeting room at the Municipal Center. It is anticipated that the Board will enter into executive session at both meetings to discuss personnel matters. The Town regrets that this warning is not made with the full time required under the statute.
Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100
What does it mean?
“The Town regrets that this warning is not made with the full time required under the statute.”
I’m not sure I’ve seen that before. I didn’t know it was an option.
Maybe it's "Make Your Own
Maybe it’s “Make Your Own Rules” week ? Seems like there’s a lot of that going around.
Let me get this straight
The Selectboard plans a meeting without the required warning–which, I would think, makes it an _illegal_ meeting–and goes through with it anyway?
At the very least it shows no respect for the laws of the state.
HUH ?
Not only do they need to schedule ONE meeting without regard for state law but they have to schedule TWO of them ? ? ? ?
Does anyone know the state requirement for emergency meetings?
Open Meeting Law
Vermont Open Meeting Law has details about executive session.
Upon reading the link given
It appears in order to go into executive session the Selectboard must first encapsulate it within a properly warned public meeting. Failure to do so makes the members liable under 314(a), definitely the ITM and the five Selectboard members and perhaps the ITM’s secretary from my comprehension. There’s probably a bigger picture in a larger statute but I doubt it mitigates what was given.
The whole business appears to be as lawless as it could be, and given SK-B’s comment, the state is turning a blind eye.
While I’m no lawyer nor do I play one on TV, from what I’ve read a sufficiently litigious Brattleboro citizen may be able to sue the state for failing to enforce the Open Meeting Laws, in particular for not enforcing 314(a), with a downward cascading effect. While it’s an uphill battle as the judicial system is more often than not in the pocket of the Powers That Be, and by the time it’s resolved it’s all so much paper, it appears to be the only avenue in order to force the Selectboard to follow state law.
If I’m misreading this, I’ld certainly like to know where and how.
Executive Session
An awful lot of executive sessions lately to discuss a personnel matter. I wonder if it is the same personnel matter, or a whole lot of different personnel matters.
Since executive session is used to discuss sensitive matters for which premature disclosure would cause harm, it would seem to me that later on there must come a time when premature disclosure is not longer an issue, and at which time there would be no harm to reveal what the executive session was about. And yet, the subject matter of executive sessions is never disclosed later on as past history. Why shouldn’t it be?
As for regretting not complying with the law… I am glad to see a few raised eyebrows. I wonder what the secretary of state would say about that. I do not plan to ask him, as I have contacted him so many times over open meeting issues, that I feel I may be on the verge of positioning myself as an pest.
New Town Manager
Most likely, the personnel matter is the hiring of the new Town Manager. At other meetings, the board announced that they would be scheduling special meetings for first round interviews.
Which isn’ t really an emergency, and doesn’t offer any obvious reason why the meeting had to be done this way. (One would think a candidate for the position would appreciate the town following the proper warning procedure.)
Typical.
Just typical.
meetings
The posting for these meetings (from the TM’s office) indicates they are “Special Meetings” with the anticaption they may go into exec session.
I’d think the meetings would fall under the open meeting laws regarding “Special Meetings”. If they did go into executive session I’d think the law regarding “Executive Sessions” would also come into play.
Progress!
Now that’s transparency! The old board never announced that “the town” regretted holding a meeting despite knowing it was improperly warned.
I wonder if this falls under the widely practiced doctrine of “close ’nuff for government work?”
Ask the Expert
I’ve written to the Sec of State to find out his opinion, fyi. I’ll report back.
SoS
Any news, Chris?
This is clearly pertinent
but without details of the bill–and I have no intention of doing the legwork here, as it seems to promise nothing in the way of progress–I have no way to tell if this improves the lot of the engaged Brattleboro citizen or not:
http://www.reformer.com/state/ci_25874701/misgivings-come-new-vermont-open-meetings-law