'Don't go in the back room': Taunton city councilor files open meeting complaint with AG

TAUNTON — The Taunton City Council used to review union contracts in public. Now it's done behind closed doors.

Mayor Shaunna O'Connell's administration made the change, saying the open discussions could reveal negotiating strategy and weaken the city's hand as it bargains with municipal unions.

While most councilors support the change, councilors Barry Sanders and Deborah Carr don't, arguing that it's a step backward in transparency to the public. Sanders filed a complaint with the attorney general, seeking a clear ruling over whether the new practice violates the state's Open Meeting Law.

"At a fundamental level, the public's business, unless it's impossible, we should do these things in public," Sanders said. "Don't go in the back room."

Carr said the previous practice was better because residents could see what each contract entails.

"I feel like it's a transparency issue," Carr said at Tuesday's City Council meeting. "In the past, we've always gone through the contract in open session."

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The city administration's position, as argued by City Solicitor David Gay, is that collective bargaining agreements aren't final until the union has accepted them and the City Council has voted to fund them. That means all discussions can be considered part of strategy.

The Open Meeting Law carves out strategy as one of the 10 reasons governing boards may go into "executive session" — the technical term for meeting behind closed doors.

The Open Meeting Law allows executive sessions to "discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body."

Gay drafted a response to Sanders' complaint. The City Council backed the letter by a vote of 7-1-1, with Carr voting against and Sanders abstaining on the advice of the Ethics Commission, given that he brought the complaint.

Sanders' complaint cited an Aug. 10 executive session about the Memorandum of Agreement between the city and Taunton Firefighters Local 138. Sanders is seeking to have the council acknowledge that "going into executive session re: completed, signed and published Collective Bargaining Agreements is an error and commit to avoiding the practice in the future."

In a four-page rebuttal of Sanders' complaint, Gay writes that, "In our opinion, the council's decision of whether or not to exercise its 'veto power' over the agreement, by either funding the financial terms or not, is a strategic decision that is integral to the bargaining process, and therefore properly may occur in executive session under the statute."

Sanders said that before filing the complaint, he sought out expert opinion on the issue from both the Attorney General's office and the Massachusetts Municipal Association. No one at either organization disagreed with him, he said.

Now that the city has responded to the complaint, Sanders needs to decide whether to continue the case. Even if he chooses not to, the AG's office may move forward with the case on its own. 

Sanders said Monday he's reading the city's response thoroughly. While the letter itself is four pages, there are nearly 100 pages of supporting documents. 

Send your news tips to reporter Chris Helms by email at CHelms@tauntongazette.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Taunton Daily Gazette.