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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB Minutes 2005-10-27SPECIAL MEETING OF THE ITHACA TOWN BOARD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2005 AT 2:00 PM 215 NORTH TIOGA STREET, ITHACA, NEW YORK 14850 THOSE PRESENT: Supervisor Valentino; Councilwoman Grigorov; Councilman Lesser; Councilwoman Gittelman. THOSE ABSENT: Councilman Burbank; Councilman Engman; Councilman Stein. STAFF PRESENT: Tee-Ann Hunter, Town Clerk; John Barney, Attorney for the Town. OTHERS: Camille Tishler, CDRC. CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m. and Supervisor Valentino led the assemblage in the Pledge of Allegiance. Supervisor Valentino had Attorney Barney looked into the legality of going into an executive session after concerns were raised by Councilman Burbank. Attorney Barney contacted Bob Freeman, Committee on Open Government, and prepared a letter for Supervisor Valentino and shared the letter with the Board. The letter states Attorney Barney’s findings and Attorney Barney explained the differences between Executive Session and non-public meetings of the Board. Non-public meetings are not subject to the open meetings law. Attorney Barney suggested that if the Board wanted to conduct the meeting in private, then the Board should vote to go into a private session for the purposes of discussion of items such as interpersonal relationships, assess the board’s processes, and receive training on techniques improving communication skills. Supervisor Valentino understood, from reading Mr. Freeman’s letters on the same subject to other groups, was everything that was talked about at the October 14, 2005 meeting private session would be legal. She wanted to clarify that the content of what was discussed was legal, just the way the Board chose to go about it by going into Executive Session was not legal. Attorney Barney confirmed that was correct. Supervisor Valentino wanted to follow up on Councilman Burbank’s memo. Councilman Burbank expressed in his memo that he did not want to participate until the Board had a letter or decision from Mr. Freeman. Attorney Barney stated that he would be happy to give Councilman Burbank a copy of his letter to Supervisor Valentino, which attaches four of Mr. Freeman’s opinions regarding non-public meetings. Should Councilman Burbank want another letter from Mr. Freeman, Attorney Barney would be happy to draft a letter for consideration by the Board. Supervisor Valentino thought that the letter from Attorney Barney to Supervisor Valentino, along with Mr. Freeman’s opinions, should be given to Councilman Burbank, Councilman Stein, and Councilman Engman. Attorney Barney gave Councilwoman Gittelman further clarification between non-public meetings and Executive Sessions. Councilman Lesser asked for a synopsis of what is meant by public business. He wondered if site visits were considered public business. Attorney Barney explained that if the sole purpose of the site visit is to go out and observe, not discuss anything in terms of the impact on any decisions to be made then it does not necessarily require a public meeting. Should the Board go out and observe and in the course of the observation the Board discusses the issue, then it is an open meeting, if there is a quorum of the Board. The Town has always recommended calling them an open meeting to be on the safe side. Councilman Lesser asked if the same qualifications applied to a non-public meeting. Would the board be able to talk about training in a general sense, but if the Board started to discuss how to organize board meetings then it would have to be a public meeting? Attorney Barney explained if the Board discussed adopting procedures, then it would be a public session. The line is drawn when decisions start to be made about how to do something. The Board felt comfortable with the differences between non-public meetings and Executive Sessions. The Board moved into non-public session.