 We're recording. Good evening. It's March 13th, 2024. This is a special meeting of the town council and is being held virtually. The open meeting law allows us to continue to hold meetings remotely without a quorum of the council physically present at a meeting location while providing the public with adequate alternative access to the meeting. This meeting is accessible in real time by Zoom, by phone and as a live broadcast on Amherst Media Channel 9 and live stream. Given that we have a quorum of the council present, I'm calling the March 13th, 2024 special town council meeting to order at 634. I'll call upon each councilor by name, by the name they have indicated they would like to be addressed. At that time, please unmute your mic, say present, and that will indicate that you can hear us and we can hear you. Pat DeAngelis. Present. Anna Devlin-Gothier. Present. Councillor Ate. Present. Lynn Griezmer is present. Councillor Haneke. Present. Bob Hegner. Present. Councillor Lord. Present. Pam Rooney. Here. Councillor Ryan. Present. Kathy Shane. I'm here. Andy Steinberg. Present. Jennifer Taub. Present. Councillor Walker. Present. There's no chat room for this meeting. If you have technical issues, please make sure that Athena and I know when you want to ask a question, please use the raised hand button. And if technical difficulties arise as a result of utilizing remote participation, we'll decide how to handle the situation at the time. We would make note of that in minutes. And we may, because of technical difficulties, have to suspend discussion for the moment until we make sure everything's right again. Given that this is a special meeting of the Town Council, there is no public comment period. The only focus of tonight's meeting is the Town Council's response to two open meeting law complaints filed following our March 4, 2024 meeting. The open meeting law of Massachusetts, Chapter 30A, Section 18 to 25, requires that the Town Council meet to provide a response to the complainants or to decide whether to request additional time for a response. And we must do that within 14 days of the date of the filing, which was Wednesday, March 6. The complaints are in your packet. Our town attorney has provided us with a memo advising the Town Council regarding applicable law and potential actions about those complaints. They are also in your packet. And in your packet is a draft record of the March 4, 2024 Town Council meeting proceedings beginning at 10.50 PM. Is there any Councilor who would at this time request that we have additional reading time so that you're fully aware of all of these materials? Please raise your hand. Seeing none, we're going to proceed. It's also important to note for all, we are not here to discuss or revote the resolution. This meeting is not a redo of the March 4 meeting. In addition, if Councilors have questions about process, our meeting rules related to the March 4 meeting, we will deal with those at a future meeting. With that, we're going to move on to the first complaint. This is the complaint by Michael Offner. And the floor is open for council discussion and a motion. You have been provided with a motion sheet that provides two options for motions. One motion would allow you to say, yes, you have read this. You acknowledge that the minutes are an accurate recording and we're authorizing KP law to respond to the complaint. The other one would require that reasons be added to this, that you do not accept that recommendation. Are there comments or questions at this time? Seeing none, then I would move to determine that the town council did not violate the open meeting law during the last 45 minutes of the March 4, 2024 town council meeting. To acknowledge the council actions taken during the last 45 minutes of the March 4, 2024 meeting, town council meeting, to confirm the record of the meeting and to authorize KP law to respond to the open meeting law complaint filed by Mike Offner on March 6, 2024, consistent with the council's discussion on March 13, 2024, that the town council did not violate the open meeting law. Is there a second? Second, I'll look out here. Thank you. On it was the second. Are there any other comments or questions before we move to a vote? Mayor Jo Hanneke, Councillor Hanneke. Mainly because it says consistent with our discussion, I'm just going to put in there to have a discussion that or statement that it from KP Laws Memo, it seems clear to me that we didn't violate it based on prior actions and determinations of open meeting law issues that were provided in that and the actions of the council and the public that night. Thank you. Are there any other comments or discussion at this time? I'm seeing none. I'm going to move to a vote. I'm going to start with Anna Devlin-Gothier. Hi. Councillor Etta. Hi. Lynn Griezmer is an aye. Councillor Hanneke. Aye. Bob Hegner. Aye. Councillor Lord. Lord, aye. Pam Maroney. Yes. Councillor Ryan. Aye. Kathy Shane. Yes. Andy Steinberg. Aye. Jennifer Tobbe. Yes. Councillor Walker. Yes. Excuse me, I'd like to vote. I'm sorry, I was getting near Pat. Pat DeAngelis. Aye. I had to turn the sheet. I'm sorry, Pat. All right, we're moving on to the second. This is a complaint from Lana Steinberg. Are there any questions about the complaint this time? I'm going to ask then if there is any discussion. Perhaps Councillor Hanneke would like to repeat what she just said. Councillor Hanneke. Yeah. Again, based on the record of the meeting, the AP law memo and the legal opinions were open meeting law decisions stated therein. I don't believe we've violated the open meeting law at that meeting. Did you have any other comment? Councillor Hanneke. Councillor Ate. I may have skipped this, but what is significant about the time from 1050 onwards? The thing that is significant is that I, without hearing Councillor Ryan, actually adjourned the meeting. He had called a point of order and we immediately went back. No councillors left their seats and we immediately went back into meeting. Okay. The reason I ask this is that's from my recollection of the proceeding. I actually have a timestamp recording of that time from 1047. So that's a gap of three minutes. Okay. So from your recording, is that separate than the town's recording? It is separate from the town's recording. The town's recording is the official recording of the meeting. And so I believe that we would have to let that be the official time. Okay. Athena or Paul Bachmann, did you have any other comment on that, Athena? Just to clarify, Councillor Ate, is this a request to amend the record of the proceedings that was added to the packet? Not exactly. It is to, I'll return to what President Prisma had mentioned, which is that there'll be an opportunity to speak about this, the process at the end of the meeting. Thank you. Oh, okay. Thank you. Anna. I was going to make a motion. Okay. All right, I figured you read the last one out. I can read this one. So I moved to determine that the town council did not violate the open meeting law during the last 45 minutes of the March 4th, 2024 town council meeting to acknowledge the council actions taken during the last 45 minutes of the March 4th, 2024 town council meeting to confirm the record of the meeting and to authorize KP law to respond to the open meeting law complaint filed by Lana Steinberg on March 6th, 2024, consistent with the council's discussion on March 13th, 2024, that the town council did not violate the open meeting law. Lord second. Second. Thank you. There's been a motion and a second, is there any further discussion? Seeing none, I'm going to move to a vote. Councillor Ate. Aye. Lynn Grisper is an aye. Councillor Hannake. Aye. Bob Hegner. Aye. Councillor Lord. Lord, aye. Pam Rooney. Yeah. Councillor Ryan. Aye. Kathy Shane. Yes. Andy Steinberg. Aye. Excuse me while I turn the page. Jennifer Todd. Yes. Councillor Walker. Pat DeAngelis. Aye. Anna Devlin-Gothier. Aye. Thank you. With that, we are finished with the action items. I just want to mention two items with three items with regard to upcoming meetings. We are meeting again on March 18th at 6.30. That will be a regular town council meeting and include a public forum regarding the appropriations for the annual budget for the Community Preservation Act funding. And we are meeting also on April 1st at 6.30 p.m. That is also a regular town council meeting. And at that point, we will have a presentation of the regional school budget and other items. Finally, there will be a groundbreaking for our new elementary school on Fort River site on March 26th at 3.30. With that, I'm going to make a motion and seek a second. And the motion is to adjourn. Is there a second? Second. Because this is a roll call vote. I will now move to the roll call and I'll begin with myself. Lynn Griezmer is an aye. Councilor Haneke. Aye. Bob Hegner. Aye. Councilor Lord. Lord, aye. Pam Rooney. Yes. Councilor Ryan. Aye. Kathy Shane. Yes. Andy Steinberg. Aye. Jennifer Taub. Yes. Councilor Walker. So they should be in the project. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yes. Can you hear me? I did. Thank you, Alicia. Pat DeAngelis. Bye. Anna Devlin-Gothier. Aye. Councilor Ette. Aye. It's unanimous. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Thank you.