Wayland Patch 8/25/11: Wayland Selectmen Reach Settlement with Attorney General. Wayland selectmen Monday night voted to accept Attorney General Martha Coakley’s settlement offer relative to an Open Meeting Law (OML) violation at a July 8, 2010, Board of Selectmen meeting. The terms of the settlement require selectmen to pay a $500 civil penalty and for every member to attend OML training, a criterion that can be satisfied by viewing a video of the regional training offered by the attorney general’s office. The terms also note that the Board of Selectmen admits the violation, but disagrees with the AG’s finding that the violation was intentional. Selectmen Monday agreed with all terms of the attorney general’s settlement, but in their vote included the additional point that they did not feel taxpayers should be responsible for paying the fine. They agreed to cover it themselves.

Wayland Town Crier 8/26/11: Wayland selectmen to pay fine for Open Meeting Law violation. The Board of Selectmen has agreed to pay a $500 fine for a hushed conversation before the start of a July 2010 meeting in which four members were caught on the local cable access station discussing candidates for a town commission. Selectmen Chairman Tom Fay said the four selectmen – Fay, then-Chairman Steve Correia, former state Rep. Susan Pope and John Bladon – will pay the fine personally, so "no town money will be used to pay the penalty." The money will go into the state's General Fund.