At a Feb. 26 informational meeting on the state’s so-called open meeting law, Harvard officials and board members learned that exchanges made through e-mails and telephone calls and at social gatherings could violate the statute. Worcester County Assistant District Attorney Patricia C. Smith presented an overview of the law and answered several questions from attendees.
The Open Meeting Law states that “all meetings of a governmental body shall be open to the public and any person shall be permitted to attend any meeting except as otherwise provided by this section” and that “no quorum of a governmental body shall meet in private for the purpose of deciding on or deliberating toward a decision on any matter except as provided by this section.” The law also requires that a notice of every committee and board meeting be filed with the town clerk at least 48 hours prior to the meeting, including Saturdays but not Sundays and legal holidays. The notice must include the date, time, and place of the meeting and be posted publicly in town clerk’s office or on the town’s principal official bulletin board. Accurate minutes of the meeting, along with all votes taken, are to be made public. Exceptions to the posting requirement can be made in emergency situations.
Smith said there has been an increase in violations of the law because town and city officials are using e-mail and cell phones to discuss and sometimes make decisions on issues. She added, “This is a matter of not understanding the law.” The district attorney’s office, she said, has found it necessary to caution local officials to use only a public meeting to deliberate public business or to make “substantive decisions.”
School Committee member Keith Cheveralls asked whether e-mail exchanges for the purpose of gathering consensus for the performance evaluation of a superintendent of schools would be permitted. Smith said that such exchanges are not permitted and that all “solicitation for individual deliberations should be done publicly.”
Chairman George McKenna of the Finance Committee asked if e-mails sent to simply “gather information were considered improper,” to which Smith answered that any discussion where a quorum, or a majority of committee or board members participated, would be a violation. She added, “An e-mail sent to disseminate information only, without an exchange, is allowed” and would not be viewed as an intentional violation of the law.
Selectman Tim Clark asked for a clarification of what the law defined as a meeting. He asked if the on-site inspection of a parcel of land by two committee members for the purpose of deciding whether the town should make an acquisition was considered a meeting. Smith responded that an on-site inspection is allowed, but that if another member of the same committee should drive past and stop to join the discussion, a quorum of the committee would then be present and that only “limited discussion” would be allowed.
The text of the open meeting law is available at the town clerk’s office or online at http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/39-23b.htm.
