The future of Conomo Point is one of the most important, and contentious, public issues in Essex.
So there was no good reason for the Board of Selectmen and the Conomo Point Planning Committee to shut the public out of a discussion of its future this week.
Their reasoning was, at best, a stretch of the Open Meeting Law and at worst, an outright violation of it.
Rolf Madsen, chairman of the committee, defended the executive session because he said it concerned the possible sale of real property.
There is indeed a provision of the Open Meeting Law that allows executive sessions for discussion of the sale of real property, if public knowledge of those discussions might adversely affect a municipality's negotiating position.
But at this meeting, any connection to an actual sale was remote. There are no negotiations going on. There is no buyer with an offer on the table. The spirit of that exemption is to allow public officials the freedom to discuss whether they will accept a certain price for a piece of property, or might be willing to go lower, without giving that information away to the prospective buyer.
This meeting was not about that. It was about public policy - dealing with the implications of a town vote in 1998 not to renew the leases of Conomo Point residents, who own their homes but live on land leased from the town. Those leases will expire in 2011.
The town has so far been unable to agree on what to do after the leases expire. This past May, Town Meeting rejected two proposed plans for the area, both of which called for the town to sell a portion of the property and keep the rest for public use. Further discussion about other alternatives should include the public, which has an intense interest in it.
Conomo Point land belongs to the town collectively, not to the selectmen or a committee. Local residents will ultimately vote on its disposition. They should not be barred from participating in discussions about that.
So there was no good reason for the Board of Selectmen and the Conomo Point Planning Committee to shut the public out of a discussion of its future this week.
Their reasoning was, at best, a stretch of the Open Meeting Law and at worst, an outright violation of it.
Rolf Madsen, chairman of the committee, defended the executive session because he said it concerned the possible sale of real property.
There is indeed a provision of the Open Meeting Law that allows executive sessions for discussion of the sale of real property, if public knowledge of those discussions might adversely affect a municipality's negotiating position.
But at this meeting, any connection to an actual sale was remote. There are no negotiations going on. There is no buyer with an offer on the table. The spirit of that exemption is to allow public officials the freedom to discuss whether they will accept a certain price for a piece of property, or might be willing to go lower, without giving that information away to the prospective buyer.
This meeting was not about that. It was about public policy - dealing with the implications of a town vote in 1998 not to renew the leases of Conomo Point residents, who own their homes but live on land leased from the town. Those leases will expire in 2011.
The town has so far been unable to agree on what to do after the leases expire. This past May, Town Meeting rejected two proposed plans for the area, both of which called for the town to sell a portion of the property and keep the rest for public use. Further discussion about other alternatives should include the public, which has an intense interest in it.
Conomo Point land belongs to the town collectively, not to the selectmen or a committee. Local residents will ultimately vote on its disposition. They should not be barred from participating in discussions about that.
