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Neighbors tell council Leonard School promises vanished; council asks law, public-properties offices to review RFP process
Summary
A neighbor accused city officials of failing to preserve promised open space around the Leonard School site and said a developer began clearing before a site plan was filed; city economic development staff denied unauthorized clearing and the council voted to refer RFP oversight and public-submission procedures to the law and public-properties offices.
Resident Jen Hoy told the Taunton City Council that residents were promised neighborhood input and a protective buffer for the woods adjacent to the Leonard School site but that the assurances were not included in the Request for Proposals (RFP) and were not recorded in meeting minutes. "If promises or assurances made in this chamber do not make it into the record ... then who is running this government?" Hoy asked, urging the council to verify who served on the pre-RFP committee and to demand a full site-plan review with neighborhood input before any further work.
Jay Patekis, executive director of the Office of Economic and Community Development (OECD), responded that the recent cutting at the site was limited trimming of overgrowth by the landowner, not site work by a developer, and said OECD had been communicating with residents by email and LinkedIn. "It was basically an owner of the land that was just cutting back on some overgrowth," Patekis said while describing his office's outreach and the fact that a site plan had not yet been filed with the planning board.
Attorney Bond clarified the open-meeting/ethics point raised by commenters, saying, "It would be a violation of the open meeting law if any of a quorum of the municipal council would have a private discussion," and noting that private texts or emails among five or more members could create a violation.
After public comment and the OECD response, Councilor motions led the council to refer several items to staff: an explanation from the law department and the city clerk about the city's process for receiving and scheduling letters submitted for council agendas; a referral of RFP committee procedures for surplus properties to the public-properties committee for review; and a request to the law department and mayor's office to explain department-head participation in public input. The motions passed by voice vote.
What happens next: The council asked the law department, the city clerk, and public-properties staff to provide briefings so the full council can determine whether the RFP process and related communications met the record-keeping and public-participation standards residents expect.
