Select Board Executive Session Meeting Minutes 3/2/22
Executive Session Minutes of the meeting of 3/2/22
Meeting Opened at: 2:21pm
Select Board Members Present: Steve Weisz, Chair, Justin Makuc
Select Board Members present absent: John Weingold
Also present: Melissa Noe
A motion was made to go into executive session to continue review and approve executive session minutes from 10/4 and 2/23. The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0. Roll call was taken: Steve, yes and Justin, yes. The Board stated that they will not return to open session.
A motion was made to approve but not distribute to the public the edited executive session minutes of 2/23/22. Steve and Justin disagreed on whether they were appropriate to release to the public and if they would open the town up to litigation if released as they mention and may be related to minutes from an ongoing investigation. Steve thought that the minutes should not be released to the public, but Justin thought they should be released to the public. It was ultimately agreed to not publicly release the minutes. The motion to approve the executive session minutes of 2/23/22, but not release the minutes to the public, was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
The approval process for the minutes of 10/4/21’s executive session was discussed. Justin has reached out to Attorney Riley as agreed upon at last week’s meeting to ask for advice on how the Board should proceed if it cannot approve a set of executive session minutes. Justin read Attorney Riley’s response which urged the Board to approve a set of minutes in order to comply with the Open Meeting Law. However, Riley noted if that was absolutely not possible, all 3 drafts should be kept on file to be able to explain what happened and what the minutes said and that the Board attempted to approve them. Attorney Riley urged the Board to come up with a draft that at least 2 members could approve. Justin stated his draft was created off of the draft off each selectperson and his personal notes all combined into one document, hoping that this collaboration would yield consensus. Steve stated he will be abstaining all together from any vote to approve the minutes of 10/4/21, for the same reasons stated last week in the 2/23/22 executive session, Steve noted Selectman Weingold’s absence during both Executive Sessions regarding this matter and noted that with only 2 members of the Board in attendance, it proposes challenges in finalizing them. Justin made a motion to approve the draft minutes of the 10/4/21 executive session as edited by himself. The motion failed due to a lack of a second
Justin will follow up with counsel for advice on how to proceed at this point.
The Board adjourned at 2:37pm
Submitted by:
Monterey Select Board
cc: Website (www.montereyma.gov)
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
Any documents used in the meeting are listed below and are available by request at town hall.
- Attorney Riley’s opinion on approval of minutes when the Board cannot come to an agreement.