DA hosts conference on open meeting law at NSCC Danvers

DANVERS ? Public officials often find themselves at odds with journalists over access to information and laws that require meetings be held openly.When information to which the public has a right is veiled or otherwise hidden by public officials, members of the media are often forced to file a request using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or obtain the services of an attorney to ensure proper notice is given for public meetings.Essex District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett will hold an Open Meeting Law Conference for members of the media and public officials on Wednesday, Dec. 16, from 7- 8:30 p.m. at North Shore Community College, 1 Ferncroft Road.The free conference will be held in the Campus Health Building, Room DH119, which is a lecture hall. Light refreshments will be provided.Those planning to attend should respond by Friday, Dec. 11, by emailing Steve O’Connell, the district attorney’s Director of Communications, at [email protected] State Law, Chapter 39, Section 23B, refers to open meetings of governmental bodies. Under the alw, “all meetings of a governmental body shall be open to the public and any person shall be permitted to attend any meeting except as otherwise provided by this section.”Further, “no quorum of a governmental body shall meet in private for the purpose of deciding on or deliberating toward a decision on any matter except as provided by this section.”In towns along the North Shore, boards of selectmen and other government bodies occasionally meet in executive session, which excludes the press and public. By law, “no executive session shall be held until the governmental body has first convened in an open session for which notice has been given, a majority of the members have voted to go into executive session and the vote of each member is recorded on a roll call vote and entered into the minutes. The presiding officer must also cite the purpose for an executive session, not simply decide to meet in private.”