The Press is filing a complaint against the Select Board this week for failure to abide by the Open Meeting Law before announcing its intention to add two to four residents to the town administrator search committee. The board announced its plan in a letter to the Press that we published March 29. The letter was signed by Rich Maiore, the board’s chair, Don Ludwig, Charles Oliver, and Erin McBee, who has since left the board. Kara Minar, the fifth member of the board, chose not to sign it.
The search committee has already begun its recruitment of additional members. An application is posted on the town website and the committee chair has already asked the Press to announce the two openings with a link to the application in its next edition. But this change was never debated or voted in a public meeting and contradicts a March 19 vote of the board.
These moves, while expeditious, clearly violate the Open Meeting Law and should not be accepted. The Press relies on public discussion of town matters to do its reporting, and citizens in our democracy have a right to hear and be heard in the deliberations of their elected officials. As an independent newspaper, we are unhappy to have been enlisted in publicizing actions that were improperly debated and decided.
The Press asks simply that the board discuss and vote on whether to add additional residents to the search committee before the committee brings forth candidates for those positions. The board meets next on April 30 and has an opportunity to do so.
