HEATH — The Attorney General’s Division of Open Government found the Selectboard did not violate the Open Meeting Law on one occasion subject to complaints by resident Jesse Weigand.
In the complaint submitted to town officials in December and brought to the AG’s office in January, Weigand alleged that the Selectboard unlawfully met in executive session while discussing the $44,443 the town owed to the Mohawk Trail Regional School District due to a student undercount in the 2020-2021 academic year. Assistant Attorney General Carrie Benedon wrote that her office found the Selectboard met in an executive session to discuss strategy with respect to litigation, which is allowed under state law.
AG’s office then reconsidered its finding and again found the Selectboard was not in the wrong. Benedon wrote, “We acknowledge your disagreement with regard to the standard for discussing threatened litigation in executive session, but do not find any legal error in our determination.”
In a different complaint submitted to town officials in February and brought to the AG’s office on March 6, Weigand alleged that the Selectboard did not accurately report the meeting minutes with respect to a comment he had made during a Nov. 29, 2022 meeting.
“I allege that the Selectboard of Heath violated the Open Meeting Laws by deliberately omitting words critical of them and facts that demonstrate an inconsistency between their actions and their statements,” Weigand wrote in his complaint. “The Selectboard has demonstrated their willingness to engineer the narrative around contentious issues in the past and I believe these omissions were another attempt to do the same. Or, at a minimum, to prevent opposing critical views from being part of a public record that is regularly viewed by residents.”
The AG’s office opted not to investigate the complaint due to it being “untimely.” Open Meeting Law complaints must be filed within 30 days if the violation could reasonably have been discovered. The office decided that the complaint was filed more than 30 days after the minutes were approved. To dispute this, Weigand argued that he filed the complaint within 30 days of the minutes being published online.
Reach Bella Levavi at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.
An earlier version of this article included incorrect dates that Heath resident Jesse Weigand submitted Open Meeting Law complaints to the Attorney General’s Office. Weigand submitted his complaints on Dec. 1, 2022, and Feb. 2. Also, to clarify, the office opted not to investigate one of the complaints after deciding the complaint was submitted too late.