 I'm going to call this meeting to order. It looks like we have a quorum. The first thing is to review and approve the agenda. Anyone have any changes to the agenda? Yes, Jennifer. I'm going to recuse myself. I just wanted to show up. Thank you. Yeah, no problem. Jack, if you're talking, you are muted. Cameron's working on getting the sound working so we can hear. Do you want us to wait a minute? Can you not hear us very well? Right. Okay. Audience can't hear. Okay. Most of us can hear. Okay. Fair enough. Well, I don't mind hanging out a little bit while Cameron waits for that. I suppose I imagine it's useful to you if one of us keeps talking so that you can continue to check. Make sure that it's working. I can't hear at all. I think that's as good as we're going to get. Okay. Right. Jennifer will be accusing yourself for the rest of this meeting. Any other changes to the agenda? Okay. So it looks like there's no changes. So we'll consider the agenda approved. So on to general business and appearances. This is an opportunity for anyone to make a comment on any topic that is not otherwise on our agenda. So if anyone would like to do that, now would be an okay time. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Steve Whitaker. I want to raise an issue of a health emergency. The garbage around town all got picked up on Friday anticipating the town-wide event, which apparently was very successful, except the bike path, the multi-use path garbage was not. It was overflowing on Friday and it's overflowing worse today. It's just a lack of coordination among town departments. Everybody pointing the other direction. Secondly, somebody defecated along the bike paths on Friday. Left soiled paper in multiple locations, Taylor Street and right at the block benches near Confluence Park. This is while the transit center bathrooms remained closed during 11 to 230 in violation of the lease. I've brought that to your attention. I had a conversation with John Moore and he tells me that the city manager has consented to his leaving those closed. The clause in the contract in the lease agreement requires they be made available eight to six, five days a week and the violation of that. There's a caveat for unavailability of staffing, but I've been told by the staffing that they're willing to work more hours. They just won't give them to them because they don't want to pay benefits. Meanwhile, I just this few minutes ago got the AOT coronavirus relief and ARPA funds. There's 10 million dollars that Green Mountain Transit has obtained in federal funds. For us to allow our city manager to throw for, you know, Montpelier residents and tourists under the bus and crap in the public way and then it got thrown into the river, over 15,000 dollars of extortion is unconscionable and a health hazard and I wish I would really get to the bottom of this quickly. No pun intended. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, so moving on then. So we are moving on to a response to open meeting law violation allegations. And for this section, I think we have the opportunity to go into executive session. If we would like, Jack. I have two motions. When I move that premature public knowledge will clearly place the public body at a substantial disadvantage concerning pending or probable civil litigation to which the city is a part. I'll second it. Okay. Any further discussion? I have a discussion if you're allowing the public. Sure. Yeah, go ahead, Steven. I don't dispute that the council has the authority to fill a vacancy. The question is how the council went about this and you could have avoided the whole charade just by picking somebody that you chose and appointing them. But to run a charade of a public process, invite people to submit petitions and some people are apparently invited to the forum where you made the appointment and others were not with no explanation of who got noticed or why. And then to have two people candidates, I spoke into two of the three candidates that weren't selected. And it just feels like it just seems to all observers as and even residents in the checkout line at Shaw's that this is just dirty pool, backroom, hardball politics. And it's, I'm having to say we're better than that. And I haven't insisted we'd be better than that. But to make a call after two people show up and make their pitch to go into executive session and then decide neither of them is good enough. It's a kick in the teeth to the people that did show up and had run before had petitioned and actually run for office before. And then to make a call of which we will never hear the contents of there was no recording and no public oversight of that telephone call. You know, it's just dirty pool. It's just unconscionable. It erodes faith and trust in the process. And it makes y'all look bad, you know, it it will read be remembered, you know, going coming coming election time. Thank you. Thank you. All right, so there any anyone else. Okay, there's been a motion a second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. And opposed. Now before we actually vote to go into executive session, Bill or anyone else want to say anything about these allegations, I mean, we can, we can also talk about it after, but I want to make sure that we folks opportunity. If there's any I'd say that you should talk about it and you should invite myself and attorney Tarrant into executive session. Okay. Jack, do you want to do you want to give it some preface? I saw you had your hand up. Go ahead, Jack. You're not coming through zoom. I was just going to make a motion to go into executive sessions to receive advice from our legal counsel concerning the potential litigation for which we've made the finding. And Madam Mayor, one more comment before you make a comment, Steve, Donna, I was going to second the motion. Great. Thank you. So motion to second now is an opportunity for further discussion about that. Even go ahead. Just the key step that Bill just announced in public open session, who else is necessary and why to invite into the executive session. This is the part of this gift in the session that I filed the violation. You did not announce that you needed the candidate to speak with a telephone prior to going into the executive session. Jack, I should have been clear that that motion includes inviting the city manager and city attorney into the executive session. But not the candidate. And right. Oh, okay. So and and okay. So I think it's probably worth saying, Jennifer, your intention is not to join us for executive session now. Okay. All right. So Bill, anything else you want to say before we go in? Okay. All right. So there's been a motion in a second. All in favor, please say aye. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Okay. All right. So the motion passes. We're going to pop out of this Zoom. And I'll see those of you joining us in the other meeting. And we'll be back. We'll return to this one shortly. Donna, yes. I didn't have an executive session in the agenda. Okay. I'll forward it to you. Thank you. Okay. See you soon. Also, do we have a motion to come out of executive session? So move. Second. Okay. Any further discussion? Okay. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Okay. And opposed. All right. So the motion passes. We're back in public session. And at this point, do we have a motion? Go ahead, Jack. I move that the council determine as follows. One, Steven Whitaker alleged that an email dated September 3rd, 2021 that this council violated the open meeting law during its September 1st, 2021 meeting. Two, that no violation of the open meeting law occurred as alleged. And three, that no cure is necessary. And is there a second? Okay. Okay. Multiple seconds. And now so on to discussion. So for this part, I'm going to turn it over first to Michael Tarrant. Good morning. Thank you, mayor. So I thought I would just give a brief rundown on the open meeting law and executive session and the purpose that I understand the meeting was for to replace Daniel Richardson with a new appointee. Under the open meeting law, when it comes to executive sessions for discussing the appointment or employment of a public officer or employee, executive session is allowed. The only requirements are that there be a two-thirds affirmative vote to go into executive session to discuss that purpose. Under the executive session statute, the board has the sole discretion to invite members into that executive session, the councils, excuse me, to discuss the matter that the executive session was called for. In this case, I believe there were members who were there and members who weren't there who had either petitioned or been nominated for that replacement position. So during that time, the council had the ability to discuss in its discretion within that executive session the people who it needed to talk to and then come out of that executive session. So that's the basic framework for executive session and open meetings related to appointments. I'll be happy to answer any questions from the council if there are any. So if I may clarify, Mike, also I'm not sure I clarified you are an attorney for the city of Montpelier. Is that more or less accurate? All right, I'll introduce myself. Yeah, my name is Michael Tarrant. I'm an attorney at Tarrant Gillis and Shems in Montpelier, working with the city as a general council baseless here today to discuss the allegation that Mr. Whitaker has raised. Okay, great. Thank you. And just to clarify, so the council's practice of or the habit that we had been have been in in terms of inviting or clarifying who is going to be in executive session is actually, I was going to say, is sort of where you're going. Yeah. Okay, never mind. I'm going to Is it required to list the folks who are invited into executive session? And under Vermont law, the answer is no. The open meeting law does require minutes be taken of all open meetings. And it does require certain things be listed. When it comes to executive session, however, it expressly states that minutes need not be taken. And the only provision that requires anyone to be listed is under the minutes section. And if minutes for executive session need not be taken, then you wouldn't need to list the invitees. Okay, thank you. Just wanted to make sure we're clear about that. And then I also just want to make sure it's clear that from the council's perspective, the intention to or the the intention around calling the two candidates who were not present at that meeting was really to give everyone an opportunity, every opportunity to participate in the meeting if they were able. And we are also we were also informed that everyone did, all of the candidates did receive the same notice. So just to make sure that all those points were clear. So there's been a motion and a second. Anything further? Jack. I just want to say based on that that I believe that the claim by Mr. Whitaker is utterly without merit. And that any claim that efforts made by this council to increase participation by members of the public was somehow a way to make a secretive and inside decision is simply absurd. And so I'll be voting favor of this motion. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, so there's been a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Okay, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. And opposed. Okay, so the motion passes. And I believe that is the end of our meeting. I just want to make sure that I am not missing anything here. Yep. Okay. So without objection, we, anyone, anything else folks want to say? Okay. All right. So without objection, we will consider this meeting adjourned. Thank you, everybody.