Yorktown Town Board Must Take Open Meetings Law More Seriously
Opinion Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the author/producer’s interpretation of facts and data.
Regarding last week’s article in the Northern Westchester Examiner, “Siegel Accuses Town Board of Violating Open Meetings Law,” it’s quite clear that Supervisor Lachterman doesn’t understand the Open Meetings Law. His comments totally miss the point.
One-on-one phone conversations with board members are not board discussions. That’s clear to everyone. One-on-one conversations, whether by phone or in person, are no substitute for the invaluable give-and-take of ideas that can only be done when all board members are together in the same room.
Mr. Lachterman should also keep in mind the key word – public. The clear intent of the Open Meetings Law is that the public’s business should be performed in an open and public manner. That doesn’t happen when board members discuss major expenditures of taxpayer dollars in private one-on-one conversations. As residents, we need to understand, and have a right to know, how and why our elected representatives arrived at their decisions. Anything less is disingenuous.
And having an open-door policy is commendable, but has nothing – absolutely nothing – to do with complying with the Open Meetings Law.
Phil Corrao
Yorktown Heights
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