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Special meeting source of controversy

A question of what can and cannot be discussed, as well as what should be discussed at a special meeting was a topic broached by the Fredonia Village Board at a special meeting last month.

The Jan. 29 meeting was called for the purpose of discussing repairs to the village hall elevator, but included two other resolutions, one on a budget transfer of $400 that ended up failing.

“There’s a difference between a regular meeting and a special meeting,” Trustee James Lynden said. “What I’m saying is that we should just go into the one resolution to discuss and to vote.”

Newly appointed Trustee Scott Johnston questioned about tabeling the other two resolutions and waiting until the next regular meeting.

“Tabling is taking action, I don’t think they should even be there,” Lynden said. “It wasn’t on the agenda, it just shouldn’t exist on what was presented this evening to just the board members, no one else.”

Fredonia Mayor Doug Essek didn’t agree with Lynden’s interpretation citing that in his opinion a meeting is a meeting and business can be conducted so long as it was publicly announced.

“Is there some language either in village law or the charter that says a special meeting can only be held specifically for one item or that a meeting is not a meeting?” Essek questioned. “This is a meeting. It’s a special meeting. It could be a regular meeting. I would think that any business that comes up in the meantime can be addressed. What if we had another emergency item? We can’t address that? Because you’re saying a special meeting is only for a specific item that we addressed to the public. My opinion is a meeting is a meeting whether it’s a special meeting or a regularly scheduled meeting.”

Lynden responded that the village has protocols for walk-in resolutions.

“I think that was our general meeting procedure, how resolutions were supposed to be sponsored and brought upon at the proper time frame,” Essek said. “Special meetings I don’t think were ever discussed or the trustees never came up with a procedure.”

Lyden mentioned a discussion with the former village attorney about the overuse of special meetings to discuss various topics.

“I recall Dan Gard discussing special meetings because they were being used for multiple things,” Lynden said. “In the past they have been used for multiple things and Dan Gard discussed why the public wasn’t able to be informed. You can’t just open a special meeting without an intended purpose for that meeting. The intended purpose for this meeting was the repair of the elevator.”

“It doesn’t mean you can’t hold any other business though,” Trustee EvaDawn Bashaw noted.

“The protocol of our meeting structure hasn’t been researched enough to figure out how we are conducting our meetings, again you (Essek) did bring up some valid points regarding a meeting is a meeting,” Trustee Roger Britz chimed in. “We did publicly announce that we’re having a meeting, yes there’s a reason for the special meeting, but other business that comes before the board can be discussed. Again, if there’s something that’s a resolution on the agenda for that time you have an opportunity to discuss it and you also have an opportunity to table it, you also have an opportunity to vote on it. So again, following proper meeting procedures, really, this is a sticky point for me. I have not found the way that we handle our meeting procedures so again, there are different things that we could be discussing, but as of right now, under the Open Meetings Law, we have discussed that we’re having a board meeting and business can come before the board. My feeling is basically … go forward with it.”

Lynden continued to disagree citing transparency as his issue. The board did discuss other business, but nothing was passed.

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