Harwich Finance Committee hit with Massachusetts open meeting law complaint
The Harwich Finance Committee has been slapped with an open meeting law violation complaint after a resident said he caught members talking about the town budget after a meeting earlier this month was adjourned.
The March 3 Finance Committee meeting aired on Ch. 18, the town's cable access station, and video and audio feed was recorded that continued 53 seconds post adjournment before cutting off.
During that time, six committee members are seen in the recording at a table in Town Hall still seated while Chair Jon Chory packs up. Some appear to look up at a camera and wait for a light — indicating the live stream is over — to change. Then one member, Brian Weiner, expounds on his view of the town budget, which Finance Director Carol Coppola had just presented to the committee.
“Well gentlemen, Angelo, unless I’m mistaken, the meeting is over, unless I’m mistaken," Weiner says. "My concern with this appears to be, this is a budget created to drive revenue to free cash. That’s the way I see this budget. That’s my problem. I’ve torn it upside down.”
After that, a couple of brief but inaudible remarks can be heard and the video cuts off.
“It was a blatant display or slap in the face of the taxpayers and the rest of the residents of this town,” resident and former Barnstable County Commissioner Leo Cakounes told the Harwich Board of Selectmen March 14. “When you blatantly hear a member of the board specifically ask 'Is the video still running?', wait and then ask a second time ... And he says, 'Great now we can get down to the real meeting.'
"They didn’t continue to pack up the wares and put their coats on," Cakounes said. "This wasn’t a discussion in the hallway, walking out to their cars. They sat back down in their chairs and took their jackets off and opened up their books and computer laptops.”
"They absolutely continued to debate,” Cakounes said. “What are you hiding that you cannot do the public’s business in front of the public? I will never trust the Finance Committee again. They know better, plain and simple, they know better.”
What is Ron Beaty's complaint?
Another former Barnstable County Commissioner, Ron Beaty, of Barnstable, filed the complaint with the attorney general’s office on March 10. He has filed many open meeting law complaints over the years.
“I got a call from a Harwich resident and the first thing they gave me was the town website and a little while later I got my hands on a little bit of video. When I had that I called Carol (Coppola) and she confirmed they did continue,” Beaty recalled. “The quorum was still there. How long has this been going on?”
In the complaint, Beaty wrote that the committee was “engaging in illegal deliberations regarding the annual town budget outside of a properly noticed meeting.”
“When a public body intentionally and flagrantly violates the open meeting law as outlined above it is detrimental to the public interest and a serious breach of the public trust,” Beaty continued. “Because of the intentional nature of the violation, the public body should be fined to the fullest extent of the law. It should also take concrete measures to ensure that the stated OML violations do not occur again.”
Harwich Finance Committee explains
The Finance Committee took up the open meeting law complaint at its March 15 meeting.
The committee adopted amended minutes of the March 3 meeting to include the discussion that happened after adjourning.
“We’re going through the process with town counsel (John Giorgio),” Chorey said. “This is what I’ve been advised by the town counsel to do. After this, there is some follow-up discussion to do. We have nothing to hide. It’s clear open transparency. It was wrong what we did. It was a mistake I made and I accept full open responsibility.”
The board voted 5-0-2 to adopt the amended minutes, with two abstentions from members who were not at the March 3 meeting.
However, what is recorded in the amended minutes does not capture what is seen in the recording of the extra 53 seconds and the video on the town website still ends when the meeting was adjourned.
The amended minutes say: “at 1:18.54 video mark a comment was made by Brian Weiner, 'are we off?' The response by Chair Jon Chorey was 'we are still green; we are still red.' At 1:19.01 video mark, a comment was made by Chair Jon Chorey 'there we go.' At 1:19.02 video mark Brian Weiner said, 'well gentleman and Angelo unless, unless I am mistaken now that the meeting is over unless I am mistaken my concern with this appears to be.' At 1:19.16 video mark the camera and audio stopped.”
Members were asked what they recollected from subsequent discussion.
The amended minutes list these responses but do not attribute who said any of the quotes: “There was a good discussion on the budget that night,” “we did not continue speaking about or with any specific info,” “nothing more than what was in the video” and “very good budget discussion and something about (I think) needing more information on revenue forecasts for FY 2023.”
Chorey did not return an email from March 16, seeking comment.
Should the Harwich Finance Committee quit?
Cakounes is calling for the resignation of all of the Finance Committee members.
One member, Tom Sherry, did submit his resignation at the March 8 meeting, but he wasn’t at the March 3 meeting and his resignation is unrelated.
That resignation leaves the committee low on members during a busy budget season and Chorey spoke at the March 3 meeting about the importance of maintaining a quorum.
"I think the state is going to come down hard on a blatant violation of the open meeting law and I think they’re going to require training, so pre-empt,” Cakounes told selectmen.
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