##VIDEO ID:MatnJ82hT0c## thank you so much Morgan Council will come to order all right and salute the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible liy justice for all please remain standing for a moment of silence in honor of our veterans service members and those who have given the ultimate sacrifice we honor and acknowledge the Massachusetts Penacook pet peoples those whose ancestral lands we now call home and on which We Gather today we Express gratitude to the indigenous peoples who have cared for this land for Generations predating European colonization and continuing to the present moving forward we are committed to ensuring that the history's voices and contributions of indigenous peoples are recognized and respected in the life of our city the clerk will call the role Council colone Hayes here councel cond here Council Crow here Council Lam here Council McDonald Council sea here Council simonelli counc stora councel Taylor councel Winslow council president Al here um I'm going to take uh paper um Communications six c325 out of order uh this is a communication um that the city council will address an open meeting La complaint submitted on January 29th 2024 by councelor spora uh related to the untimely start of the January 28th meeting of the full Council which was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. um the complaint itself is attached to the agenda um I have uh a do you have a copy of it I have in front if the clerk will read the uh the the bulk L uh the body of the open medal complaint for our consideration description of alleged violation I am writing to formally file a violation of the open meeting law against the city of Malden regarding the recent city council meeting the council meeting was scheduled for its usual start time of 7:00 p.m. p.m. but the ordinance committee meeting ran until 8:29 p.m. without any notice to the public resulting in the council meeting starting 90 minutes late residents who came to participate were left uninformed of the delay and had no chance to voice their concerns as several left the building in frustration moreover two counselors who are not members of the ordinance committee also departed due to lack of notification it is the responsibility of the council president to ensure all meetings are open to the public in a timely manner allowing residents to contribute the failure to provide adequate notice appears to have deliberately limited public input undermining the Democratic process actions um wishing to be taken to the complaint public apology inherence to the law thank you Clerk and I'm just handing out um a proposed uh response to this open meeting law complaint that I drafted um I'm going to read it out loud now uh and if if the council would like to to take action on this the vote would be to um authorize this to be submitted to councelor spora and the Attorney General uh so this is two councelor spor from myself uh Ryan the city council president and it's a regarding a apology in response to the open medal complaint the letter States dear councelor spora let me start by saying I wholeheartedly agree with you that the manner in which the role of the affordable homes act has unfortunately been rushed because of factors largely out of our control I truly wish that the the city council had participated in policy discussions concerning accessory dwelling units months ago the implementation of this local zoning ordinance highlighted a significant Gap in how the city of malen develops public policy I apologize for my role in this and commit to ensuring that under my watch the city council will never again be given less than three weeks notice to draft en roll in Ord Dana zoning ordinance that said we both know that not acting swiftly would have been a mistake for our community please accept this communication as both a formal written apology and the m and City council's response to your complaint supported by the facts as described below I apologize to council spora and the public for the short turnar on time on the implementation of the Ado zoning ordinance and for the delayed start time of the city council meeting on January 28th 2025 the delay was not deliberate and was clearly the result of the rules and ordinance committee finishing its committee Report with relevant amendments suggested by the planning board and the committee itself going forward I commit to improving improving how the city council conducts business and will take the following remedial actions to ensure that the impact of future delays is minimized one where a delay can be anticipated because of one public because one public meeting is predicated by the business action or adjournment of another the public notice will state the time at which the meeting is anticipated on starting for example 7 p.m. and will include additional language to clarify that the meeting may be held later than anticipated than the anticipated time for example it might read or after the ordinance committee adjourns on January 28th 2025 as an example of a public as an example the public notice might Now read the city council will meet in the Herbert Jackson Council chamber 215 Pleasant Street Malden Massachusetts 02148 at 7 p.m. or after the ordinance committee adjourns on January 28th 2025 two where a delay cannot be anticipated a minority or majority of the city council or or Council committee will be encouraged to call the meeting to order and publicly announce the delay the public body members would then be encouraged to recess the meeting until the reason for the delay has ended while in reviewing the open meeting law determinations it does not appear that a delayed start time to a meeting constitutes an open meeting law violation I do commit to making sure the business before the city council and its committees is conducted in a timely and transparent manner I want to thank councelor spor for bringing his concerns to my attention and look forward to working with him and every other counselor to continually continually approve improve councelor Spa for's advocacy has helped ensure that a similar situation situation will be handled better by all involved please accept my formal apology and public my formal and public apology for the delayed start time of the city council meeting on January 28th 2025 earnestly Ry Ali city council president City Malto um councelor lenam thank you Mr President um I I'll be really brief I wanted to first thank you for the letter I think it's um heartfelt and lays out some really clear steps that we can take um I did also want to just reiterate I know some of us have you know chatted offline before and after meetings not as a quorum of course of the body but just anticipating ways that maybe we could have done better um and one of the things I had offered to do that I wanted to sort of publicly state is you know I think there's kind of the two elements there's the inperson factor and then there's the folks watching online and if you were watching online truly you had no idea what was going on and I know that was a night where we were taking up a really hot button issue members of the public were really eagerly anticipating hearing the outcome some had come in person to potentially speak and then went home um although I will note that nobody had signed up for public comment so I do want to be really clear about that I don't think there was anyone that was waiting and and left or at least nobody that signed up but I think that one of the things that we could do and again I'm offering very explicitly to help with this is we could make a graphic that Uma could show so that when we are delayed it's really um apparent to folks streaming on cable or YouTube and I think that would go a long way towards being really clear and communicating what's going on given particularly since the open meeting law doesn't stipulate a time where you know you're considered to be late and if you go beyond that then you're exceeding the limits of the law um the second thing that I did just want to offer is that I could see a scenario in the future where if we did have folks who who are waiting to speak for public comment maybe extending the opportunity for them to submit written comments past given that we if we're starting late it's already after the 4M deadline to have emailed comments if folks come and we have an unanticipated delay I think that it would be a good practice for us to allow folks to submit written statements um in lie of being able to speak and address the the body if we aren't able to start on time so just trying to think in a solution space and how we can you know mitigate this moving forward but I do think also so it's you know it's best if we raise these things when they're really happening I think I was a little bit discouraged to see the complaint because I've heard us commit to not handling these types of disagreements this way in recent years and so feels like we are going back on some Norms that we've set for ourselves but I also do very much understand the frustration as somebody who travels for work and could be zooming in myself in the future if you're in that boat and you have no idea what's going on that's obviously not a very genuine way of welcoming remote participation so I do want to acknowledge that those things are intention but um hope that we can avoid having open meeting LW complaints against ourselves as much as we can in the future uh thank you councelor spor thank you Mr President um well that's a interesting look at that so I I do have a couple questions and I that's why I was talking to the City attorney well this says that um you determine I don't think it's up to the president to determine if there was a open media law violation and in all fairness we can't start a meeting early there's no reason why I believe the law states that we can start a meeting not 10 minutes late not 20 minutes late it was almost 90 minutes late and while I don't think there was malice yet the Adu has nothing to do with this my point was this meeting went over and it says when a delay can can be anticipated well we all knew that delay was being anticipated very much so because we knew what time it was and when a delay cannot be anticipated again we all knew what time it was and I I was remote and I can tell you right now I had councils ask me if the meeting was going on I don't think it was intentful but the idea that this was just a brush over to me is not the right way we address it head on the way we address it is I sent the meeting open meeting law violation because it's an open meeting law violation it's it's no different than us getting together in a Rome and saying the meeting starts at 6 and we said oh everybody's here let's start the meeting now we can't start early and why should we start late because if we're going to be transparent and people are waiting and people have livelihood and I appreciate this again it wasn't a 10-minute delay it wasn't a 20-minute delay it was a 90-minute delay we should have did what the school committee did does is come in effectively bang the gavl and say we're going to recess to the to the ordinance chair and come back I'm not saying it was malice this is the way I think we have to address this head on because if I think I did it any the other way I don't think this debate would have happened here to be quite honest with you um and I'm not trying to get anybody in trouble but I appreciate the the email I think it's with with empathy there and I and I don't think it was intentful but the same token is we just have to do a better job especially when meetings are happening at 7 o'clock and you've done a great job with teams we have people actively waiting online to see meeting start where they have no idea and I'm sure residen got the same email is the meeting happening tonight right so regardless of the topic it's it's within our it's within our duties to make sure that meeting starts on time or at least notify the notify the individuals based in the law you have to have adequate notice adequate notice is not starting 90 minutes late I I don't know where the law states that's okay but that's why I want to bring it up I I accept this it's not malice and I hope to move forward thank you thank you councelor sp for is um councelor colog he and then and just if if anyone does have a motion to to uh accept this and to send this to councelor spap for or the and the attorney general that that would be welcome councelor right yeah I was actually going to make that a part of this but um I just wanted to thank you for writing this um this is great I do also wish that it was handled differently like at the time of the meeting we're all on the meeting um somebody could have said wrapped we might have said I even leaned over and said we're going over like is there a meeting so but then I thought you know what we have we we're on a big deadline like by September you know February 2nd people can come in and do whatever they wanted by right if we didn't get this passed and we were working you know hard to get through that so I wish somebody would have said it um or Council SP for if you would have said it um during the meeting and then we could have discussed that too because I do agree that we started and actually I think it was um councelor Condon that said we we hope that we would start this year off um you know working together and working better so I disagree and I think that absolutely if you brought this up we all would have um talked about it I don't think we would have an issue at all about talking about this um and move forward with it so a couple of things too I just thank you for having the zoom um because without you being president we we haven't had Zoom so what happened was I got a text message as well and I was like oh yeah I know we're starting late but guess what the great thing is we have zoom so you can join in I'll let you know um when that comes back on so I do think that we should have a something that you were saying Council L here that we put on if we think we're going late hopefully we're not going to go this late again but um you never know if we're running up against a big deadline that will show on you know Uma show on Zoom standby um you know meeting will start um shortly blah blah blah maybe we can give a deadline on when we're going to do that um because yeah ABS absolutely nobody wants to be um sitting around waiting for something but if you know you'll just check in and come back later and watch it by Zoom I did come in and apologize to um the library they totally understood they knew about the deadline they were kind of bummed but then they would rather they said goone home and do it another meeting not when we were like exhausted um over the hours that we spent so um I do appreciate this and I did read I tried to you know I'm read up on the laws as much as I could and there really isn't a set um it doesn't give a time like for ending time or late start time that I saw I'm not a lawyer but I did try to see that and I think maybe if we just make it a little bit more clear that could stop from somebody you know filing an open meeting law on ourselves instead if we just work together to put something in rule so thank you for writing this out it took a lot thank youate make a motion to to accept this and send it to the attorney general thank you councelor cles um because you mentioned councelor spor by name I'm going to go to councelor spap for if he has a response yeah I I you know I'm going to try to be calm here because I think this is the most unbelievable thing I've ever witnessed in my life the idea that this Council that two members now have already said it's my fault well with all due respect counselor if you knew her late then why didn't you do it and it's I'm not on ordinance either I I said yeah this was an open meeting law of violation if I could ask no no let me I have can you direct I will direct to you this is an open meeting law violation by the very definition it's adequate time if we have a meeting at 7:00 whatever the topic is and it doesn't start till 90 minutes late I'm sorry people we fed as a team and the idea that it's my job when I wasn't here first of all to say hey we're going to stop this meeting I would almost tell everybody in this right now I'll play Devil's Advocate you wouldn't have stopped the meeting you wouldn't have stopped the meeting so the idea that it's my fault because I sent the letter of an open meeting violation which I want the Attorney General to address it's an open meeting law violation at the end of the day it is and it's on all of us not one counselor if you read the law that's how open meting law violation works it's on the body not the individual so it's all of us here but the idea that it's my fault because I reported it is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my entire life I've been on the other side of these many times I've had five conflict of interest filed against me I've had three open meeting law violations on me so I think it's funny that when I do something which is completely in my right and to be very honest with you it's true we did we did something wrong here we did something wrong we delayed the start of a meeting by if you if you want to be attorneys by adequate law 90 minutes and anybody's anybody's definition is way over the top just like starting 90 minutes early so I didn't I I sent it to I sent it to the the the city solicitor councelor om Ali received it that was it I don't go on social media I didn't go in the newspaper this was something I thought we should address as a committee but the idea is how dare you file something to be within the law and the last thing I'll say is we don't have zoom we have teams C coun councelor spor I just want to let you know that I I don't feel that way and I and I I did I want to specifically say that as I written in the in the letter I want to thank counselor spor for bringing his concerns to my attention and look forward to working with him and every other counselor to continually improve councilor spatap for's advocacy has helped ensure that a similar situation will be handled better by all in the future so I I I do appreciate what you've done um H having been on the other side of this um I do appreciate it councelor Winslow for the first time yeah no I I appreciate Council spa for bringing this up I I mean I know I've been involved in a lot of public meetings over my course of time and you know generally I mean you know there can be technical difficulties there can be situations where we are waiting for other meetings to get done um It's Not Unusual to start a bit late uh I mean I I sometimes I think in my own mind is sort of like once an hour is about the time where people get concerned that we should have an explanation so I I think that is the type of thing I mean I was I am the chair of rules and ordinance it was a pretty intense meeting we had we had about 20 or over 20 amendments we had to consider um so there was really a need to um work intensively on that and you know I think people in the committee lost a little bit time track of time but I we we should have taken that moment to come in and um explain so I think I like the remedy here um this is an un unusual situation where we were rarely under the gun that we were in the situation where we had to both um you know really develop a pretty intense set of go through this intense set of amendments in rules and ordinance plus um you know come back to the council and vote on those things so I think it's it's an unusual situation but there is Council for spat for you're right there's really no excuse not to communicate that way we we did mess up and uh we should do that so but I think that's we just have to be aware but um you know it is uh what it what it is and uh you know we have meetings that go till 11 o'clock and people sit out there and have to wait depending upon how the business but I think it we you know better communication I appreciate uh councelor M taking the step here to really try to lay that up thank you is that is that a second to the motion to to accept this that'll be a second so there there is a motion on the floor that has been seconded the motion is to um accept this response is the council's response to this open meeting law complaint this will be sent to councelor spora into the Attorney General as required by law um debate on on that motion I see councelor McDonald you have your um councelor McDonald for the yeah thank you council president I would just say I think this is a gracious response and um gets at the points we need I agree with the points about some other tactics we could use um and I would I you know this is one of these weird times where I don't actually think anyone is disagreeing up here and yet we are angry at each other and I think we could just agree to do better and I think we're all on the same page about that that's my read and I would support that and I also would say you know I was I mean I also was sitting in that meeting thinking like this is not great and went out to talk to the people who were here and I think we could all have a practice that if we think that there's a problem like that that we could ask for a point of order and try to figure it out in the moment I I certainly like to think if someone said could we just go in and gavel this out and make sure that the folks online know what's going on you know if someone had said that that we all would have said okay yeah let's try to do something about that I I I believe that um it doesn't really matter what I believe because it's just a hypothetical but my point is just that it would I I would like to ask of my colleagues that should we have um concerns about how we're conducting a meeting like that in the future that we just do our best to try to raise it collegially in the moment and see if we can address it you know and hopefully we won't yell at each other about it but I suppose you never know and then see if we can do better by our constituents in the future and I'm happy to support this thank you thank you Council McDonald I would like to call if if possible so um so we we we while we are streaming we are all here in person um the the motion on the floor is to accept this um this letter and to have it sent to councelor spor and to the attorney general it was uh made by councelor clone Hayes it was seconded by councelor Winslow a yes vote would uh result in in me sending this letter out a no vote would result in me not sending this letter out um all those in favor please say I I I any opposed that passes unanimously thank you all for your grace on this the next order of business paper 61-25 order that the city council will vote to go into executive session with Alicia a mcneel city solicitor regarding the matter of benevolent Botanicals and 926 Eastern Avenue V the city of malen for the purposes of exemption 3 Massachusetts General Law chapter 38 section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to litigation with such discussion in open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigation position of the city and if so declared by the chair if I'm sorry if so declared by the chair and if so Allowed by the body to admit Marie Louise Special Assistant to the mayor roll call required is there a motion to go into executive session a motion by councelor simonelli seconded by councelor Winslow uh the clerk will call the role um my apologies citing exemption three of Massachusetts General Law chapter 30A section 21A wherein discussing paper 6125 in open meeting would have a detrimental effect on the city's litigating position on councelor Sim Elli's motion to enter executive session seconded by councel Winslow the clerk will call the role Council clone Hayes Council Condon councilor Crow yes Council linahan yes councel McDonald Council sea yes Council simonelli coun spor yes councelor Taylor yes councilor Winslow yes council president do Ali yes thank you the next order of business paper 62- 25 order that the city council will vote to go into executive session with Alicia a mcneel city solicitor regarding the matter of zarki verse the city of malen for the purposes of exemption 3 Massachusetts General Law chapter 30A section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to ation with such discussion an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigation position of the city if so declared by the chair and if so Allowed by the body to admit Maria Louise Special Assistant to the mayor roll call required on councelor sel's motion seconded second seconded by councelor Crow so citing exemption three of Massachusetts General's Law chapter 38 section 21A we in discussing paper 6225 and open meeting would have a detrimental effect on the city's litigating position on councelor sell's motion to enter into executive session seconded by councelor Crow the clerk will call the role Council clone Hayes Council Condon Council Crow yes Council linahan Council McDonald Council sea Council simonelli Council spora Council Taylor Council Winslow yes council president yes uh for so for the the public just so everyone knows uh we are going to be um going into executive session now uh the body will uh not reconvene for any further business this evening and will'll adjourn directly from an executive session thank you