Did Selectmen Violate Open Meeting Law?

After the Sept. 18, Selectmen's meeting ended inside Town Hall Chairman Jill Sullivan gathered the board's five members for a discussion outside Town Hall.

The members huddled outside the entrance and talked.

According to Massachusetts' Open Meeting Law a "meeting is generally defined as 'a deliberation by a public body with respect to any matter within the body's jurisdiction.'"

Was the discussion they held a deliberation within their jurisdiction?

Chairman Sullivan said in an interview this week that the board members were having a discussion about "our behavior," the board members' behavior.

She said she did not think that the discussion constituted a meeting since they were not discussing policy or taking a vote; but, she also said that if her understanding was mistaken then she takes responsibility for it.

"If we were violating the Open Meeting Law I own up to it and it won't happen again," she said.

Town Administrator Tom Younger said it isn't clear whether what the board was doing constitued a meeting, deliberating on something within their jurisdiction. It's a gray area, he said.

The town administrator said the town takes the Open Meeting Law very seriously. There have been changes to the law and the town ha already planned to host a meeting in October on the Open Meeting Law. 

According to state law, with certain exceptions, all meetings of a public body must be open to the public.

Do you think the selectmen's discussion was a meeting?

Here is link to Attorney General Martha Coakley's Open Meeting Law Guide.