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2005 Rhode Island Attorney General Reports and Opinions 1 (2005)

handle is hein.sag/sagri0002 and id is 1 raw text is: OM 05-01 Anderson v. Jamestown Housing Authority

Posted: 2005-02-25
February 25, 2005
OM 05-01
Walter J. Anderson
Jamestown, RI 02835
Re: Anderson v. Jamestown Housing Authority
Dear Mr. Anderson:
The investigation into your Open Meetings Act [OMA] complaint is complete. In
your letter, you allege that the Jamestown Housing Authority (JHA) violated the
Act on June 2, 2004, when it posted notice that the community room where a
special meeting was scheduled for 6:00 PM would be closed from 6:00PM -
6:30PM, thereby effectively excluding the public from attending.
Specifically, you indicate that the abovementioned notice was posted on the
outside of the community room door at the time that you entered to attend the
open portion of the June 2nd meeting. You state that you were in attendance
only to confirm a quorum, list the names of those present, and leave when the
motion to go into Executive Session was made and carried. The sole purpose of
the meeting, as evidenced by the meeting agenda, was to discuss personnel
matters in executive session pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-46-5 (a)(1). You
recollect that when you took a seat in the meeting room, one of the two
Commission members then seated at the conference table commented to you