Chair moves Montgomery Township Zoning Board into closed session for legal advice

Montgomery Township’s Zoning Board read a resolution and voted Feb. 27 to meet in closed session so board counsel could provide legal advice that the board said falls within the attorney–client privilege.

The presiding officer, identified in the record as the Chair, read a prepared resolution invoking the Open Public Meetings Act and N.J.S.A. 10:4-12 and stating that “the board now go into closed session and the public be excluded.” The resolution said the general scope of the discussion would be disclosed in the open minutes but that the specifics of legal advice would remain confidential.

The motion to go into closed session was made and seconded on the record; the Chair called for an affirmative voice vote and the board entered closed session. The record contains the statement, as read into the public minutes, that legal advice would be discussed and withheld from public disclosure under attorney–client privilege.

After the closed session the board reconvened in open session and adopted a motion to reopen. The Chair then announced future meeting dates—March 25, March 27 (Monday) and April 25—and the board moved and seconded a motion to adjourn.

The transcript identifies one mover of the closed-session motion as a board member recorded in the minutes as “Walmart” and a second as “Mehta.” Spellings of some names in the record are inconsistent; the board’s roll call also recorded members Blodgett, Rosenthal, Abusabi, Bruns, Wood, Urbanski, Shah and Mehta, and noted that Delenti/Delentra would be late. The board did not disclose details of the closed-session discussion in the public record.