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Date: 1/17/2023
AMHERST – The Amherst Town Council met on Jan. 9 to vote on the appointment of multiple positions within town government and respond to a legal memo regarding a complaint made against the council. The positions were filled and their terms vary. The council also voted to adopt the 2023 town manager goals, the full list of which can be found online.
The first positions to be filled were those of council president and vice president. Lynn Griesemer was reelected as president. The vote was unanimous with one abstention. Councilors Ana Devlin Gauthier and Michelle Miller went head to head for the vice president spot; Gauthier won with eight votes to Miller’s five. Both Griesemer and Gauthier will serve until Jan. 2, 2024.
Next were the appointments to the various council committees. First were the associate members of the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA). The council appointed Jordan Helzer, Vincent O’Connor and David Sloviter to the ZBA. Their terms will end on June 30, 2023.
Councilors Mandi Jo Hanneke, Andy Steinberg and Griesemer were appointed to the Budget Coordinating Group. Their terms last until Jan. 2, 2024.
Councilors Gauthier, Pam Rooney and Cathy Schoen were appointed to the Joint Capital Planning Committee. Their terms also last until Jan. 2, 2024.
The council also voted to authorize KP Law, the town’s attorney, to respond to a Dec. 20, 2022 complaint filed by Allegra Clark regarding an alleged violation of open meeting law that no violation had been found. The memo sent from KP Law to the council describes the nature of the complaint.
“The complainant alleges that the council violated the Open Meeting Law by scheduling and holding non-public meetings with the Amherst Police Department on several dates in December and that the president of the Town Council allegedly coached members of the Police Department at these meetings,” read the memo from KP Law.
The complaint is in reference to a series of listening sessions hosted between town councilors and police officers during the period of debate on the council’s actions following the July 5 incident in which an Amherst police officer was filmed telling a minor that he “had no rights.” The contentious time prompted councilors to meet with police officers individually or in small groups at the police station to converse and get to know each other better in an attempt to bridge the gap and build better communication between the two local government entities. Clark alleged that these meetings were in violation of the Open Meeting Law which was enacted “to eliminate much of the secrecy surrounding deliberation and decisions on which public policy is based,” according to the KP Law memo.
The firm found that the town council did not violate this law for a number of reasons. A quorum of councilors was not present during the meetings for them to be considered “meetings” under the Open Meeting Law. The council itself never authorized the councilors to act collectively, so it cannot be deemed as subcommittee action.
The law does not forbid the council president from emailing councilors regarding scheduling, nor does it forbid councilors from visiting a town department. Finally, the relief requested by the complainant is “outside the scope of appropriate remedies under the Open Meeting Law.” Griesemer made the following motion in response to the memo.
“The town attorney’s memo clearly advises the council that there were no violations of open meeting law. This is what we are required by law to respond to and we have to respond within 14 days. Therefore I am placing the following motion on the table and seek a second: To authorize KP Law to respond to the open meeting law complaint filed by Allegra Clark dated Dec. 20, 2022 on behalf of the Town Council, consistent with the council’s discussion on Jan. 9, 2023,” Griesemer said.
The motion was seconded by DeAngelis and after some deliberation passed 9-0, with 4 abstentions.