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Board forms equal‑protection advisory committee amid public questions about executive session
Summary
The Philipstown Town Board appointed an 'equal protection update' advisory committee by roll call and heard public comments raising concerns about a prior executive session and the town’s compliance with New York open‑meetings law; supporters of the resolution urged the board to proceed.
The Town Board voted to appoint an advisory "equal protection update" committee and then heard public comments about whether the board had used executive session appropriately during earlier deliberations.
The board named committee members and conducted a roll‑call vote that passed. A board member said the inclusion of a town staff representative was intended to provide frontline perspective and that drafts have been circulated to the town attorney for review.
Resident Liz Coro criticized the board's use of an executive session at a February meeting, arguing New York's Open Meetings Law permits executive session only for narrow statutory purposes and that seeking legal advice alone is not generally a lawful basis to close a public policy discussion. "Discussions of public policy or legislation must occur in open session," Coro told the board, and she urged transparent public process going forward.
By contrast, Teresa Fry, representing the Philipstown DEIA committee, urged approval of the equal protection resolution and described protections the committee seeks, including not sharing resident information with federal agents without a judicial warrant. "We support providing clear legal guidance for the town and staff to protect the privacy of individual residents," Fry said.
Board members said they have been working on amended policy drafts and expect the committee to review materials with the town attorney before bringing a recommendation back to the board. They discussed logistics for committee meetings and onboarding new members; no substantive policy vote occurred at this meeting.
The board asked staff to circulate annotated drafts to committee members and to set meeting dates so the committee can resume work toward a formal recommendation.
