WESTFIELD _ The City Council has been notified that it has violated the state’s open meeting law in a letter from the city’s Law Department that was read into the record of the council meeting last Thursday.
The notification letter, sent by Assistant City Solicitor Shanna Reed, said the Attorney Jonathan Sclarsic of the Attorney General’s office is conducting an investigation of a complaint filed against Councilor David A. Flaherty who distributed a document to which other City Council members responded.
Reed stated that the exchange of the document and comments constitutes “deliberation” which occurred outside the public forum.
Reed said the AG is affirming “that all such communication are deliberations and in the future (the Council) will take care not to discuss such communication outside of a properly posted, open meeting.”
City Council President Brian Sullivan said yesterday that the conflict is due in part to the rapid evolution of technology.
“I think we may all have violated the law at some point, not on purpose, but because it’s so much easier to shoot out a text message,” Sullivan said. “You can send out a text or email, yes. Exchanging information seems to be all right as long as you’re not having an Internet conversation.”
“We’ve been discussing this issue for years. I’ve gotten to the point that I acknowledge an email, but I don’t respond. It’s such a fine line,” Sullivan said. “If you’re trying to persuade someone to vote in a specific way, then it’s wrong. If you’re asking a question of fact or providing information, then it seems to be allowable.
“I typically send information I want to put out to the City Clerk who then disseminates it through proper channels,” Sullivan said. “The point is that you can’t have an (electronic) discussion, which is a tough thing because everything is done electronically these days, because the public is not privy to that information, so you’re breaking the intent of the (open meeting) law.
“Electronic communication has evolved so quickly that the law has not kept up,” Sullivan said. “I think they will eventually change the law because of the technology available today.”
