I’m writing after reading your post on rules local New York governments should follow regarding board meetings. I live in the Village of Arcade, and this past year the board held several what I’ll call “secret” meetings. They posted on their social media page that they were holding meetings about “removing someone from the board” for some “violation,” but they refused to state who it was or what the accusation was.
When I contacted the village and said that posting public information without giving the actual information was tantamount to lying, they said that they had to protect the identity of the person. That makes zero sense if that person is an employee of the village. We have a right to know who it is and what is being charged without having to attend the meeting. Am I crazy?
A village board can hold a private executive session to discuss the conduct of a village employee.
You raise an interesting question as far as holding an executive session to discuss disciplining an elected official. As far as we know, a village board does not have the power to remove an elected board member. It is unclear to us what power a village board has to discipline an elected board member, but they may.
If the board wants to discuss disciplining a board member, the proper way to do this is for a motion to be made during a meeting that the public was notified of, to go into executive session to discuss the possible discipline of a village employee. The name of the employee or board member does not need to be disclosed.
If nothing comes of the discussion as far as imposing any reprimand or discipline, then the discussion can remain confidential. If a vote occurs to discipline an employee or a board member, that needs to be documented in the meeting minutes of the executive session, or the vote needs to occur during the public meeting. Records regarding any disciplinary action are subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Law.
The counter argument to your point is that if allegations are being made against someone, that should be discussed in private until the allegations are determined to be true. Once someone has in fact been disciplined, then that information can be made public. Prior to a determination, for privacy reasons and general fairness, the discussion can occur in private.
Below are opinions from the NY Committee on Open Government, the state agency that addresses these issues, which you may find of interest.
We hope this response is helpful.
