State rules CPC did not violate Open Meeting Law

An Open Meeting Law complaint against the Grafton Community Preservation Committee was ruled not to be a violation by the Attorney General’s Office.

Back in March, both CPC members Justin Wood and Jim Gallagher filed separate OML complaints, alleging that the CPC violated the law by failing to convene when a quorum of members appeared at the March 15 Select Board meeting. The Select Board was discussing the possible addition of an Affordable Housing Trust member to the CPC.

“The Committee does not dispute that a quorum of members attended and spoke at the Select Board’s March 15 meeting, which was not posted as a meeting of the Committee,” wrote Carrie Benedon, assistant attorney general in the Division of Open Government. 

“However, the Committee asserts that the matters that were discussed during the meeting were solely within the jurisdiction of the Select Board, not the Committee, and therefore the Committee members’ discussions did not constitute “deliberation,” as that term is defined by the Open Meeting Law,” she wrote. “We agree.”

While there was a quorum of members, they spoke only to contribute information about a proposal that would ultimately be decided by the Select Board.

“Here, although the Select Board requested and the Committee members provided input regarding the proposal to designate a seat on the Committee for a representative of the Affordable Housing Trust, ultimately the Select Board alone has the authority to make such a change and to appoint the members of the Committee,” she wrote. “We do not find that isolated comments about the Committee’s own operation made in the context of discussions of the Committee’s membership—such as a Committee member expressing that the treasurer, whose term next expires and could be replaced with a representative of the Affordable Housing Trust, is integral to the Committee’s operation—constituted improper deliberation.”

Then-chair Gallagher took full responsibility for the issue in his complaint.

 “The Grafton Select Board had an agenda item concerning the CPC membership. The CPC had not been advised of this item,” he wrote. “Three of us went to the meeting to observe the action item. As it turned out, another member of the CPC who was a candidate for Select board was there to audit the meeting. During the CPC discussion, another member came into the hearing hall. I did not notice the 5th member (a quorum now existed) until it was too late a violation had already taken place.”

Wood’s complaint noted, “Once the CPC-relevant agenda item came up, the Select Board’s vice chair (acting chair for this meeting) Colleen Roy, multiple times during the discussion called out the fact that the CPC members should not speak on the subject due to their quorum and no meeting had been posted. This comment did not deter members from speaking, repeatedly.”

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