Council cited for violating Open Meetings Act

Minutes of work sessions were not given in ‘timely fashion'

Friday, Oct. 16, 2009

The council met at least twice between the May 7 meeting and the production of the minutes, the opinion stated.

"As this issue surfaced, we did not think that work sessions needed to have minutes," Mayor Bruce Wahl said, noting that because the council did not take any action, they did not think that written meeting minutes were required.

"It frankly was an honest mistake," Wahl said.

During the May 7 work session, the FY2010 budget was discussed and the council reviewed the proposed budget "line by line and allowed the council to make comments or request changes," Wahl said.

Town resident Gary Coldsmith, who routinely attends all town meetings, but was not able to attend the budget work session, requested the minutes in writing and then-town administrator Michelle Jenkins wrote a letter back stating that the town does not record work session minutes, Coldsmith said.

He then wrote a letter to the Maryland Attorney General's Office to inform them about the violation of the Open Meetings Act and he also informed the mayor about the letter.

"It was really a heated discussion," Coldsmith said he heard of the budget work session and he wanted to be informed on the discussion prior to the town council meeting the following month, which included a public hearing on the budget. Coldsmith said he attends all the meetings including zoning and appeal board meetings so that he can intelligently speak about issues.

"You need to participate, not take up space," he said.

The town did comply; that's not the problem, Coldsmith said, adding, "They did not come up with the minutes in a timely manner."

Wahl said that, "Now it's a matter of routine, at every work session we are preparing minutes."

Coldsmith said that he had numerous issues with getting meeting minutes from the town's past administration and the current administration has been more forthcoming.

"They [the old administration] said I was asking for too much stuff," he said. Coldsmith said that he is also requesting closed session minutes of the town council and learned that they are also included in the Open Meetings Act.

In several town council meetings over the past year, the council has met in closed session, without the public, in the middle of the town council meeting.

charvat@somdnews.com