WELLFLEET — The Mass. attorney general’s office has cited multiple violations of the Open Meeting Law related to a closed meeting of the select board on June 27, 2023.
In response to two separate complaints filed by Michael Shannon and Jude Ahern, Assistant Attorney General Carrie Benedon found that the board discussed matters that fell outside the scope of what is permitted by the law. The attorney general’s office also found that the board violated the law by releasing minutes of that meeting that were almost entirely redacted and by failing to notify the public when the minutes were released.
In two separate findings dated July 15 and 16, the board was ordered to release the unredacted minutes of its June 27 meeting within 30 days. Benedon also demanded the board’s future compliance with the Open Meeting Law. “We caution that similar violations may be considered evidence of intent to violate the law,” she wrote.
Ahern filed her complaint in September 2023; Shannon’s followed in February. In both cases, Town Counsel Carolyn Murray of KP Law rejected them, and Ahern and Shannon went to the state.
The June 27 executive session led to a meltdown: at the select board’s next meeting on July 11, then-member Kathleen Bacon called for chair Ryan Curley to step down. Repeated attempts by other members to reorganize the board at that meeting and on July 13 were quashed by Curley before the board ultimately ousted Curley from the chair on July 18. Barbara Carboni replaced him.
Board members repeatedly said at those meetings that they could not discuss the reasons for the turmoil because it took place in executive session.
Closed meetings may be held only to discuss subjects that are exempted in the Open Meeting Law. According to the June 27 agenda, the board was “to hear complaints against a public official or employee.” Both Ahern and Shannon alleged that much of the discussion did not pertain to the agenda item. Benedon agreed, finding that the matters discussed “were not appropriate for discussion in executive session.”
According to a statement of facts in Shannon’s complaint, Curley called for the closed meeting to discuss complaints about former Town Administrator Richard Waldo and to consider “disciplinary proceedings against TA Waldo, including possible removal.”
The June 27 meeting lasted over three hours and “did not result in any disciplinary action against TA Waldo,” according to the statement of facts. “Discussions of such complaints accounted for only a small portion of the executive session.”
Benedon found that the discussion focused primarily on “the role of the Board’s Chair vis-à-vis the other four members; communications by Board members; and how the Board and the town could move forward productively. The fact that a topic may be of a sensitive nature does not itself constitute permissible grounds for discussion in executive session.”
Benedon also found that the board violated the Open Meeting Law by withholding the minutes of the executive session and failing to announce the results of its review of those minutes.
Public bodies are required to disclose executive session minutes once the issue discussed has been resolved. When the board released the minutes of the June 27 meeting on Nov. 1, they were all but entirely blacked out.
Town Counsel Murray tried to justify the redaction by arguing that information in the minutes “may constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” and should not be disclosed, and the select board agreed.
But the attorney general’s office found that because the discussion at the meeting went beyond the lawful purpose of an executive session, the board cannot continue to withhold the minutes. Benedon ordered the release of the unredacted minutes, except for one paragraph pertaining to complaints against Waldo.
Several allegations made by Ahern and Shannon were unfounded, Benedon wrote in her decisions. Ahern alleged in her complaint that the board violated the Open Meeting Law by discussing reorganization at its July 11 and 13 meetings without there being an agenda item. Benedon found the board in compliance with the law because Curley “specifically rejected the attempts of other Board members to discuss reorganization” at those meetings.
Benedon also rejected Shannon’s complaint that the board did not follow the requirements of the Open Meeting Law when it went into executive session.
Benedon found insufficient evidence regarding Shannon’s complaint that the board unlawfully deliberated outside a public meeting. Shannon’s complaint revolved around a July 6 email Curley sent to the select board, stating that he had “significant differences” with Waldo.
Select board chair John Wolf told the Independent this week that he was not aware of the attorney general’s findings.
“I am sorry to hear that,” said Wolf. “When we release minutes concerning an individual, it leaves the town open for legal action. I see nothing that can be gained from knowledge of that.”
