Adams Hit With OML Complaints
ADAMS, Mass. — The Board of Selectmen has received several Open Meeting Law complaints and a broad request for meeting minutes over the past four years.
The minutes are the request of Patrick Higgins, a frequent filer of OML complaints in Massachusetts over the past decade. His website, openmeetinglawenforcer.com, claims to be "the biggest Open Meeting Law enforcer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."
Higgins is requesting copies of minutes for open and executive sessions from 2020 to 2023.
The three OML complaints were made by resident Catherine Foster and are largely related to executive sessions as well as statements and actions by Chair Christine Hoyt regarding Adams Ambulance.
In one complaint, Foster points to six executive sessions, saying the board failed to announce their purpose, approve minutes in a timely manner, make appropriate declarations in open session, take attendance or vote by roll call in executive session and keep accurate minutes, and had improperly redacted minutes.
The complaint refers to sessions held on Oct. 19, 2022; Jan. 18, 2023; March 1, 2023; Aug. 2, 2023; Oct. 4, 2023, and Nov. 20, 2023, all signed and posted on Dec. 3, 2023. "These may be the first approved in many years," states her complaint.
She says executive session was used improperly in several cases, including the sale of 20 East St., the old community center, and, in a separate complaint, discussion of lifting a housing rehabilitation lien on a property.
The community center was the subject of the Oct. 19 executive session for having a "detrimental effect" on the town's negotiating position for the "purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property."
Foster notes the sale had already been approved by town meeting the previous June.
"There were members of the public who were upset that the historical property was being sold to the developer for $25,000 and have concerns that the public body used executive session to keep the citizens of being aware of the details of the sale," the complaint states.
The minutes of the executive session, which redacts the address for some reason, broadly mentions aspects of the development and purchase-and-sale agreements being proposed. The sale closed on Dec. 12, 2022.
The complaint also states on two occasions executive sessions were held to "discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining" for already negotiated contracts and failed to note materials used during those meetings.
"The reasons the violations should be construed as intentional are threefold. Firstly, this public body was cautioned in 2019 about creating timely minutes and including sufficient detail for the purpose of executive sessions," writes Foster, noting four of the selectmen were in office at the time. "Secondly, the violations are numerous and routine, and have occurred for many years, despite at least one warning from the attorney general's office."
In her second complaint, she notes she twice publicly objected to the board going into executive session over the release of a property lien related to the town's housing rehabilitation program on Nov. 15 (at which time it was delayed) and again on Nov. 20, 2023 (when the session was held). Hoyt said then that she was being guided by town counsel and that speaking openly would have a "detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the public body."
Town counsel explained in a response to Foster that the name and address of the individual in question is redacted in the minutes and discussions held in executive session because of federal privacy guidelines. The housing rehabilitation program is through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Foster says nothing in the pamphlet provided from HUD about keeping personal identifying information confidential relates to Exemption 6 of Open Meeting Law, which relates to purchase, lease and sales of real property.
Exemption 7 involves complying with special laws or federal grant-in-aid requirements. The public body is required to cite the law and requirement that "necessitates confidentiality."
The complaint filed against Hoyt says she violated OML "while acting beyond the authority granted by law for a Select Board member."
This is in relation to the now closed Adams Ambulance and the decision to designate Northern Berkshire Emergency Medical Services as the town's primary emergency responder effective Jan. 1.
Foster claims that Hoyt had been representing the town for nearly two years in discussions about the ambulance service's financial problems, including a meeting at the ambulance on Sept. 7, on which she did not update the board.
Hoyt, at a joint meeting with the Cheshire and Savoy select boards on Nov. 20, gave a timeline of interactions with the service. The first joint meeting with the ambulance was in March 2022 with "some" officials; a second meeting was held on Sept. 7, 2023, but Hoyt said Adams officials did not attend as it was at the same time as the Selectmen's meeting.
A news story on the service's fiscal woes was published on Sept. 15 and, on Sept. 25, there was a meeting with the ambulance manager and two board members. The town administrator was involved in all of these meetings. Hoyt refers to a few dates prior to the Nov. 20 joint meeting but it's not clear if these were "meetings" or communications between the town administrator and the ambulance.
Foster's complaint points to Hoyt's statement the board was not involved in the discussions and that they work through the town administrator; that a workshop would be held about the ambulance but was not; and that an EMS service zone committee was organized without approval by the Selectmen.
Foster is asking that board taken Open Meeting Law training and commit to following the law; release unredacted minutes; ensure all executive session minutes are approved and available; nullify actions held during improper sessions; and pay a fine for "intentional violations."
She also asks that the Board of Selectmen acknowledge Hoyt's violations and release any written records of her involvement and disband the service zone committee.
All of these matters were referred to town counsel.
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