The key word in the term “the public’s business” is public.

Four Lewiston city councilors have dunked themselves in hot water by holding secret meetings at a bar to discuss city business. Enough councilors (four of seven) met that they could control the meeting if they all agreed beforehand how to vote. If that isn’t illegal, it ought to be.

Two guys with law degrees appear to disagree on the legality. More on that in a minute.

In 12 years of elective office (nine on the Mount Blue school board, three on the New Sharon select board), I was keenly aware of the demands in Maine law for doing the public’s business in public. More than the demands of law, though, were requirements of morality and of appearance.

The Mount Blue board had 15 directors — it added a 16th when Starks joined Regional School Unit 9 — so the likelihood was slim that enough directors (eight) would meet in secret to plan school business.

Still, we avoided getting together outside of formal board or committee meetings.

School superintendents and board chairs may prepare a meeting agenda together. With one superintendent, I was part of that process for a year as chair, but not with the next. The agenda was news to us at each meeting. If we don’t know the agenda, we can’t collude to fix the results.

And I recall an executive (closed to the public) session at which I objected that we weren’t discussing any of the three areas allowed to be discussed secretly: personnel, real estate and legal action. My fellow directors agreed that the topic was forbidden, and we returned to open session.

New Sharon’s select board had only three members, so any time two of us crossed paths, we constituted a quorum, enough to do or plan town business. We were mindful of that. I recall running into another selectman in a local store, and we chatted about the weather, etc. We didn’t discuss, say, roads, a common topic in any town, because roads are always a select board issue.

Brendan Buck, a Republican strategist who served two U.S. House speakers, said Tuesday on NPR that Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives “refuse to accept some of the realities that come with governing.” Lewiston’s council majority may fit that description, too.

When you take public office, you have to change some of your ways. You’re in a realm of rules that don’t govern other people. Such as what you do and say in public. Most of all, you have to do the public’s business in public.

This may be a personality clash that has slopped over into the people’s business. Look at these words from Councilor Robert McCarthy, one of those who met secretly in the bar. He said the topics on the secret agenda “were just a plant to see who (sic) we can trust. Now we know.”

He was accusing Councilor Linda Scott, who had blown the whistle on the secret meeting. His use of the word “we” suggests an organized group plotting to run the council secretly. A cabal.

The four invited members of the city Planning Board to the saloon soiree, and one of those, Josh Nagine, seemed repentant. He tipped off Scott. Nagine is running to replace Scott on the council. Nagine said the councilors in the tavern talks discussed zoning, the housing authority and school issues. That sounds to me like city business.

In a statement, Nagine said, “Whether any of this raises (sic) to the point of discussing city business in a quorum or being privy to or discussing information that is privileged, I cannot say. I can say, however, that appearances are everything in governance and that I am deeply sorry that I did not remove myself and allowed myself to participate in the conversation once it became clear that the subject matter was connected to what some would consider city business.”

Enter Martin Eisenstein, Lewiston city attorney, who said: “I have not seen a violation of the (Freedom of Access Act) because a quorum of city councilors did not discuss the business and affairs of the city for which the City Council is authorized to act.” Eisenstein wiggled some more, saying he hadn’t watched or attended any of the meetings. Where was his due diligence?

Again, four is a majority, so if four plot the course of a meeting, they do public work secretly.

The other guy with a law degree is Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey, who said he had watched the council meetings on Sept. 19 and Oct. 3. He wrote that he was “concerned that there may be a lack of understanding” about what the FOAA requires of elected officials.

Maine requires public deliberations be held openly and records of actions be open to the public. The law forbids “clandestine meetings, conferences or meetings held on private property without proper notice and ample opportunity for attendance by the public,” the Sun Journal reported.

Telling a few friends that you plan to meet tomorrow doesn’t meet the test of law. When I was on New Sharon’s select board, we were required to schedule any meeting, except an emergency, at least a week ahead and to post notices of the meeting.

The Maine Municipal Association, a local governments council, trains newly elected officials in how to do their jobs. I wonder how many Lewiston councilors have taken the training.

Maybe when a new council is voted in Nov. 7, attendance at MMA training should be mandatory.

Accountability is the first order of business for government. Bob Neal believes accountability begins with transparency. And transparency means doing the public’s work in public. Period. Neal can be reached at bobneal@myfairpoint.net.

Copy the Story Link