News

Was Council's action illegal?
By Elizabeth Prata

Gray Councilors recently met in Executive Session to consult with Town Attorney William Dale to review the legal implications of the Attorney General's decision in accordance with 1 M.R.S.A § 405 (6) (e) "consultation between a body or agency and its attorney concerning the legal rights and duties of the body...regarding pending litigation and where premature general public knowledge would clearly place the...municipality at a substantial disadvantage."

Maine law says that all public proceedings must be open to the public, except as provided by statute or by section 405, "Executive session."

Executive sessions are the few times that public officials are allowed to close their doors and talk about public items in private. There are times when officials legitimately need to discuss private items, such as personnel matters, negotiations, persons being investigated, or School Board who are considering the suspension or expulsion of a minor. However, no other matters may be discussed inside private session and no official actions shall be finally approved at executive sessions. Any action must be voted on in public session.

The Gray Council went into Executive Session on January 4 after stating to The Monument that no actions would be taken. Their discussions were to be contained to consultation between themselves and their attorney concerning their legal rights and duties, as they stated in their publicly noticed justification of the reason for the private session, above.

Councilors Pam Wilkinson, Lynn Olson, Matthew Sturgis, Gary Foster, and Richard Hall, and Manager Mitch Berkowitz broke from Executive Session after half an hour, having decided on a plan of action. They had decided to draft a letter to the AG asking for a reconsideration and if the answer was no, they had decided to move forward with litigation.

There is a thin line beteen permissable deliberations and impermissable deliberations. When do 'consultations between a body and its attorney' turn into actionable items that are prohibited by law?

Asked at the Joint Leaders meeting the following morning after the Executive session whether she thought that they had taken action, Ms. Wilkinson said that they did not take action, but only "gave direction to the Manager."