Selectmen Request Review of Open Meeting Law Complaint [with video]

Chairman of the Board of Selectmen Peter Cunningham has been cited in a complaint filed by Art Campbell with the Attorney General's office, questioning actions by Cunningham that may be a potential violation of the open meeting law; asking for a review by the Board of Selectmen to agree on what happened and then asking for an opinion from the Attorney General's office as to whether the actions do or do not violate the Mass Open Meeting Law.

Cunningham read the complaint at Monday night's Board meeting, acknowledging that he had individual conversations with each of the selectmen in April, to see if they would be willing to waive the building permit fee for the reconstruction of a burned out building at Blood Farm as "an indication of its significance to the community and based on the outpouring of support for the local business."

He said he contacted members of the Board and acknowledged that two members, Selectmen Josh Degen and Jack Petropoulos were reluctant to do this and "it died at that point." He added, "My intent was only to identify tangible support and I freely admit that if it is a technical violation, it may be the case."

Cunningham said that in April, he contacted each member of the Board and repeated phone calls to some of them. He advised that Selectman Degen told him that he thought this contact was against the Open Meeting Law where serial phone calls and polling could be a violation.

"When I did contact Board members it was without the knowledge of Blood Farm. The Groton Herald got a phone call from a businessman" with a complaint and Cunningham added that this is "in the midst of an election" and speculated whether this person "wanted it spread around."

Degen said that Cunningham's "description is accurate. I said that I did not want to talk outside the Open Meeting Law" and that heneeded to think about it. He added that in terms of the Open Meeting Law, he said he only wanted to talk about it at an open meeting. "The intention is good, but I did not want to execute it this way," Degen said.

Colleague Stuart Schulman observed that "no good deed goes unpunished," and characterized the complaint as a "to do over nothing." It is a sad thought, he said, when a selectman can't call other selectman and talk. "Personally I don't think it is a violation of the Open Meeting Law. If an idea were to go public, then we would talk about it."

Degen pointed out that one selectman certainly can talk to another about an idea that he wants to bring forward to the Board in public, adding that this is not a violation of the Open Meeting Law. A violation would occur if this idea was discussed privately with a quorum of the Board.

Selectman Anna Eliot said she was all for open and transparent government, adding, "I don't remember GELD (Groton Electric Light Department) building permit waiver." Degen responded, "You are comparing apples and oranges." She then said that the decision on waiving the permits belonged to the building department.

Cunningham stressed that he was "polling members of the Board, but that's it." He then said that per the complaint, the Board needed to make a determination if a violation occurred. Eliot said, "We are not qualified to determine [this]." Town Manager Mark Haddad said that if the Board is not able to make a determination it would go to the Attorney General's Office.

Degen stressed that he was not involved in this. "If it is just Peter, then he should go to the AG's office." Cunningham said, "It is my feeling that I did not violate the open meeting law. It was not my intent."

Schulman stated, "Tell the AG's office that we don't understand the law well enough to determine this." The Board agreed to take this action.