Attorney General backs Wayland Selectmen in Decision on Open Meeting Law Complaint: Confirms selectmen's right to discuss litigation in executive session
In a clear statement issued on Thursday (September 29), the Attorney General affirmed the right of the Wayland Board of Selectmen to discuss pending litigation involving other town boards and commissions in executive session.
Local resident George Harris had complained that the Board of Selectmen violated the Open Meeting Law provision governing executive sessions when it met on several occasions since August 2009 to discuss strategy with respect to pending litigation involving the Historic District Commission and Twenty Wayland, LLC.
Jennifer Grace Miller, chief of the government bureau, wrote that the Attorney General concurred with the finding of the Middlesex District Attorney decision issued March 26 in response to a complaint filed by HDC chair Gretchen Schuler. "We agree with the District Attorney's conclusion that a Board of Selectmen may meet in executive session to discuss strategies with respect to litigation where an entity of the town is a party to that litigation," wrote Ms. Miller.
Mr. Harris had requested the Attorney General to overturn the district attorney decision and to rule that the selectmen had violated the revised Open Meeting Law which became effective July 1 when it met in executive session on two occasions in July.
The Attorney General's ruling also cited an earlier decision involving Mr. Harris and the Wayland selectmen on the very same subject. The Middlesex District Attorney determined on May 6, 2002, in response to a complaint filed by Mr. Harris on June 13, 2001, that "the Board of Selectmen is the governing entity for the town of Wayland," and that "the outcome of any litigation involving another town entity…is a topic over which the Board has 'supervision, control, or advisory power' under the OML." That case involved litigation with the Board of Health.
Source: Press Release from Town Admiinistrator Fred Turkington
