Just a minute, now: Acton questioned on compliance with Open Meeting Law

Government staff had their hands full in the run-up to Town Meeting — and it had nothing to do with budgets or zoning. 

The scramble addressed part of a legal complaint from retired Deputy Police Chief Paul Macone. And after the initial push, Town Manager Kerry Lafleur promised a “comprehensive review” to avoid further issues with the state’s Open Meeting Law. 

“What I’d like the town to do is abide by the law,” Macone told The Acton Bridge, “or at least come close.”

Macone’s complaint centered on missing meeting minutes — those mandatory summaries of board and committee gatherings. 

The state attorney general gives groups three meetings or 30 days to approve their minutes. When Macone looked through the town website this spring, he couldn’t find summaries for Select Board sessions well into last year.

Lafleur acknowledged at a recent board meeting that “we were further behind … than we had originally thought.” 

Deputy Town Manager Megan Zammuto and Management Specialist Shannon McAndrew helped compile missing documents. Over five meetings from May 12 to June 4, the Select Board approved 42 sets of minutes — including 14 from 2024. 

New training

Some boards handle their own minutes. The Select Board gets help from paid staff. 

Either way, Finance Committee member Karlen Reed said, minutes are a committee’s official record. Though some meetings are recorded, Reed said, minutes should focus on a session’s important details, enabling a reader to understand the discussion without watching hours of video. 

Reed, who takes minutes for FinCom, praised the town’s handling of Macone’s complaint.

As soon as it received the report, she said, “The Select Board basically dropped everything and got caught up.”

Board Clerk Mark Howell said staff turnover “contributed to the backlog,” and he outlined changes in response to the complaint, including new Open Meeting Law training for new hires. 

Macone said he was satisfied with the Select Board’s response, but he said some other committees “are in much worse shape.” 

PEG Access Advisory Committee Chair Vince Carlson said at a late-May meeting that the panel was one group with “tardy” minutes. Some other committees kept pace but didn’t have their approved minutes posted online.

Though the law doesn’t require the town to post minutes, Lafleur said, “We recognize that doing so is a best practice.” She said “evolving internal workflows” led to missed posts across several boards. 

The Bridge mentioned Community Preservation Committee and DEI Commission minutes in a June 11 email to Lafleur. Just over an hour later, officials posted most of the outstanding CPC documents. 

‘Nowhere near as professional’

Lafleur said the town has more than 60 boards and committees. Officials admit the count makes Acton an outlier among its peers. 

Sharon, with roughly the same population as Acton, lists 39 panels on its website. Sudbury has 30. Bedford has 42 and Acton, 41.

Macone said it’s up to the Select Board to determine whether the town has too many panels. But after raising concerns about minutes, he said leaders have not been transparent and that Acton’s administration is “nowhere near as professional as it used to be.”

He said “time will tell” if the Select Board keeps its word on Open Meeting Law compliance. 

“Saying that you’re going to do something is one thing,” he said. “Doing it is another.” 

Reed said she has an “overall positive” view of the town’s meeting minute policies and recalled previous experiences of chairs reacting promptly when she noted backlogs. 

In an email to The Bridge, Howell said the Select Board “operates with a high degree of transparency.” He said the staff who support the Select Board work “with dedication and integrity” and that their demands are “ever increasing.”

“We take those responsibilities seriously, and it is regrettable that, at times, the limited resources are overloaded,” Howell said. 

In a separate statement, Lafleur said Town Clerk Kaari Mai Tari will lead a review of board and committee Open Meeting Law compliance, “including the timely approval and public availability of minutes.” 

Asked about Macone’s characterizations, Lafleur said, “These instances did not occur due to a lack of professionalism but rather highlight areas where process improvements are underway.”