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Shelter Island Reporter Editorial: Being honest with the public

BEVERLEA WALZ PHOTO The public meeting room of Town Hall.
BEVERLEA WALZ PHOTO The public meeting room of Town Hall.

Two parts of the Town Board’s March 21 work session focused on transparency and honesty in government.

The board discussed drafting an email policy for town employees and elected officials. Currently there is no policy, except some make-nice instructions to be polite when composing emails. A new policy, with the strength of a town resolution behind it, would align with New York State’s archives act requiring that emails, along with paper records, be preserved.

Recently, there have been Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests about town officials corresponding on upcoming short-term rental legislation. Town Attorney Laury Dowd said the new initiative to draft a policy on preserving emails has nothing to do with the FOIL requests. We take her at her word and commend her for drafting the new policy for the board to consider and hope it becomes law as soon as possible.

The other part of the meeting was a wake-up call for the board when it comes to going into executive, or private, sessions. Under the state’s open meetings law, there are strictly prescribed rules for shutting the public out when elected officials meet. The most common allowances to go into executive session are to discuss personnel matters or litigation for or against the town,

At the end of the March 21 work session, it was announced that the board was going to close the doors to talk about an expansion of two town departments, which is very much the public’s business. When Councilman Paul Shepherd questioned the decision, he was told the private meeting involved personnel. Mr. Shepherd correctly, in our view, voted not to shut the public out of the discussion.

After the meeting, Councilwoman Chris Lewis told the Reporter the meeting was to discuss hiring an employee for the building department and creating the post of fire marshal. Ms. Lewis did the right thing to let the public know, even if it was after the fact and a breach of the law to go into executive session in the first place.

Mr. Shepherd said after the meeting that his “no” vote to close the doors was “ill-informed.” We don’t think so, and suspect that Mr. Shepherd’s reason was to maintain collegiality with his fellow members.

Once is enough to skirt past one of the most important rights the public has in keeping tabs on its elected officials. The board must be scrupulous in abiding by the law — to the letter — on open meetings.