WESTFIELD – At Thursday’s meeting, Finance sub-committee chair Robert A. Paul, Sr. and member Matthew T. VanHeynigen were briefed by city solicitor Susan C. Phillips on an Open Meeting Law complaint against them filed with the Attorney General. David Flaherty, the third member of the committee was absent.
Finance Committee members Matthew T. VanHeynigen, Robert A. Paul, Sr. and Dave Flaherty during a budget hearing earlier this year. (Photo by Amy Porter)
Phillips said the complaint was filed after a public records request was made for minutes of the Finance committee for the period of 2016-2017. The city complied, and sent out on July 5 all the copies of minutes that they had. However, 25 to 30 minutes were missing from both years.
The complaint was filed with the AG by resident Richard Holcomb on July 13. In the description of the alleged violations, Holcomb wrote: “The minutes of Finance sub-committee of Westfield City Council have not been filed in 2017. Only those meetings missed in 2016… Approx. 25-30 meeting minutes in 2017, approx. 25-30 minutes in 2016 are not on file and apparently not recorded.”
Under the question of what action he wanted the public body to take in response (to the complaint), Holcomb wrote: “I want all meetings and minutes to be filed for taxpayer reference, an explanation before the City Council for Mr. Paul’s oversight, and all future minutes filed.”
Phillips said the first thing her office did upon receiving the complaint was to communicate with the Attorney General and request an extension until the end of August. Phillips said an extension was granted until August 16.
Phillips also asked the committee if there were some other notes taken that could be read as minutes. She also requested the committee to authorize the Law Department to file a response on their behalf by August 16. She said the Attorney General is not involved at this point.
“This is an ongoing, very difficult issue for sub-committees with no staff; a city-wide issue,” Phillips said. She acknowledged that everything the Finance Committee has done has been reported out to the City Council in open meetings that are recorded, under the section “Reports from Committees” on the City Council agendas. However, she explained that the Attorney General’s office has a narrow focus, and their interpretation of the law is that each committee has to keep separate minutes.
Phillips said she would report to the Attorney General that there was no intentional violation of the Open Meeting Law. “Clearly, this wasn’t intentional. We as a city have an obligation to provide you with all of the tools you need,” Phillips said.
She said the city has been discussing whether to start taping meetings, or to have clericals present. She said that they have created templates for minutes that can be filled in during the meetings.
“We’ve been taking the agenda, and all of the attachments, taking votes, and reporting to the City Council. All of those are reported, but not knit together in a package,” said Paul. He added that during budget discussions, when they are holding hearings and bringing in departments, the meetings can last for hours.
“At least for Finance and L&O (Legislative & Ordinance), we need to have somebody recording,” Paul said.
“We’re recording votes, but not much more,” VanHeynigen said.
Phillips said there is a standard format for Finance Committee minutes on the Attorney General’s website. “Councilor Paul is correct that we need to have someone in the room, at least for those committees,” she added, before requesting them to put it on the record to authorize the Law Department to file a response to the plaintiff. The vote to authorize passed 2-0.
