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Meriden city attorney outlines FOIA duties and limits of human-rights advocate role

Human Rights, Racial Equity and Social Justice Advisory Board · November 10, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

City Attorney Emily Holland briefed the Human Rights Advisory Board on open‑meetings rules, the legal department's role, and why a human‑rights‑advocate position housed in the legal office can create conflicts — recommending outside counsel if the board pursues action adverse to the city.

Emily Holland, Meriden's city attorney, returned to brief the Human Rights, Racial Equity and Social Justice Advisory Board on the legal department's structure, open‑meetings obligations and ethical limits that affect the city's human‑rights advocacy role.

Holland said her office comprises an associate city attorney (Danielle Combs) and a part‑time corporation counsel (Matthew McGoldrick) appointed by the city council. She told the board that, because the legal department's client is the city, she cannot represent private individuals who…

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