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Council authorizes legal response to open meeting law complaints after executive-session minutes released
Summary
After Assistant City Solicitor Zahir Samee reported that contested executive-session minutes had been released and that litigation reasons justified earlier withholding, the council authorized legal to file responses with the Attorney General and complainant; the motion passed unanimously.
The Malden City Council voted unanimously to refer two open meeting law complaints and authorize the city solicitor’s office to submit responses to the Attorney General and the complainant.
Assistant City Solicitor Zahir Samee summarized the matter: complaints by Bruce Friedman concerned the timing of release for three sets of executive-session minutes (February 3, 10 and 17). Samee said the minutes were released in early March and that legal concluded the complaints were moot once the minutes were public; prior withholding was tied to ongoing litigation and settlement activity in two matters (Tufts Construction litigation and Benevolent Botanicals litigation), one of which had a possible appeal that was later withdrawn.
Following questions from councilors about the number of complaints filed by the same individual, Samee and councilors confirmed the office would submit the response to the AG and the complainant and offer one-on-one review with legal if councilors wanted to discuss the response prior to submission. The council voted to authorize legal to submit the response and to refer the matter to the AG as appropriate (vote 10–0).
