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Resident alleges selective cutoff of public comment, urges recall authority
Summary
During citizens' comments, Nicholas Seldin accused trustees of cutting off speakers and misreporting attendance, called for a code of conduct with penalties and said executive sessions are being abused; the trainer outlined the formal complaint process but made no finding.
Nicholas Seldin used the public-comment period to raise multiple complaints about town meeting practice. “I believe that that is a violation of the open meeting law,” Seldin said, alleging a trustee (named in his remarks) had improperly curtailed comment at a prior meeting and that minutes and attendance records did not reflect everyone present.
Seldin asked the boards to adopt rules requiring truthful information from officials, to create penalties for violations and to add recall mechanisms for elected officials who commit legal or ethical violations. He also urged that the Zoom chat be made available to help online participants report microphone problems.
Trainer Carly Endier responded to process questions in the Q&A: she outlined the statutory complaint timeline and explained that a written complaint requires a public response within 10 calendar days and either a cure within 14 days or a public finding of no violation. The trainer did not adjudicate Seldin's specific allegations at the meeting; she described the formal remedies and the superior-court appeal path for dissatisfied complainants.
No board action was taken on the allegations during this meeting; the topic remained a public comment and a description of the complaint process was provided for follow-up.
