In a letter sent to the Attorney General from the attorney for the town of Northfield, the story appears to have changed regarding the executive session which ultimately led to an attempt to eliminate Bill Lyon’s job as Superintendent of Public Works.

This newest letter is in response to a request from the Attorney General made in late May that requested the town’s position regarding the executive session which was held on December 3, 2009.

In an earlier letter the town counsel stated “the Selectboard did go into executive session on December 3rd to discuss personnel. The Selectboard did not make any decisions in executive session, but did ask the Town Manager, Nanci Allard, to prepare alternatives to the budget under consideration which they would review and discuss at the next scheduled meeting.” the new budget was to show what costs would be with the Bill Lyon positions eliminated from it.

However, this newest letter changes the previous response and states that he had been in error when he said that an algernative budget had been requested.

Instead, he now states that the Town Manager was only going to create a “fact sheet” for the next meeting and that the discussion of the preparation of the “fact sheet” took place after the board came back from executive session and made the announcement that they made no decisions in executive session.

This newest letter from town counsel states that the December 3, 2009 executive session did not discuss budget cuts at all, but rather was a discussion of how the departments affected by the elimination of Mr. Lyon’s position would be managed if he were gone and whether the people the manager was contemplating to replace Mr. Lyon had the capabilities necessary to run those departments.

The letter states that because Mr. Lyon had advised the town manager of his intention to retire in July of 2009, she had been preparing two replacements to take over.

However, the minutes of the meeting that night make no mention of any proposed budget cuts or that a new budget draft had been requested and most certainly made no mention of the potential elimination of the position of superintendent of public works or any discussion that others might be replacing him.

The failure of the minutes to discuss any of these things was a principal concern of the Attorney General in his most recent letter.

Whether the discussion of the budget amendments was in executive session or in open session is important because Assistant Attorney General, Michael McShane, stated in his letter to the town that “the preparation of an alternative budget would not seem to be in the nature of routine administrative action” and asked what justification the board had for taking such action in executive session.

In fact, on May 10, 2010 the Selectboard had a meeting at which one of the agenda items of that meeting was entitled “Validation of Town Attorney’s Response Letter regarding Alleged Violations of Vermont’s Open Meeting Law.”

The minutes of that meeting adopt the explanation of town counsel’s letter that the Selectboard did go into executive session on December 3rd to discuss personnel. The Selectboard did not make any decisions in executive session, but did ask the Town Manager, Nanci Allard, to prepare alternatives to the budget.

At the time, Selectman Charles Morse stated that he asked to have this matter be put on the agenda so that the whole board would have the opportunity to approve (retroactively) the language in Mr. Cameron’s Letter and the motion passed 5-0-0.”

With the latest explanation, that motion would appear to have been in error as well if the newest version is to be believed.

Mr. McShane also criticized the joint meeting which the selectboard had with the village trustees on December 21, 2009 which the letter states “was held in an unusual location and no members of the public or media attended.” The meeting was held in the police meeting room at the police station. Normally, meetings of the selectboard and village trustees takes place in the Community Room of the Library or in the Municipal Building.

The letter from the town to the attorney general states that the meeting held in the police station “which is in the middle of Northfield’s downtown” and that it is “accessible to the public, comfortable and spacious enough to accommodate a joint meeting of the town and village boards.”

At that meeting, a consensus was reached by both boards favoring the elimination of the public works position. However, once again, the minutes of that meeting make no mention of the discussion regarding the elimination of the public works position nor did they mention the consensus that was apparently reached.

The letter from the town counsel concludes that no vote on the budget was taken until January 25 when “there was a vigorous discussion about the Superintendent position” which it was decided would be continued to be funded.