Guest Viewpoint: Is Town of Southport violating Open Meetings Law?

There is a big problem with the Open Meetings Law in New York.

The problem is the utter lack of strong and comprehensive legislation with teeth built in to assure citizens that governments, local and state, abide by the law.

What is in place for citizens in New York State is nothing more than lame legislation that offers no enforcement mechanism when governments, local and state, violate the law.

The only recourse that a citizen has is to hire a lawyer and initiate an Article 78 proceeding against the offending governmental, public body. Nuts, right?

Article 78 proceedings are lawsuits mainly used to challenge an action or inaction by agencies of state and local governments as well as public bodies. Lawsuits are expensive and should not be necessary to get government officials to do their jobs correctly.

Violations of Open Meetings Law that I’m highlighting in this op-ed are based upon my direct experience with the Town of Southport Town Board as well as the town’s Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals. As a 33-year resident of the Town of Southport, I am appalled by the willful disregard of Open Meetings Law.

Section 103e of the New York State Open Meetings Law addresses the process of disclosure of records scheduled for discussion at open meetings.

Section 103e can be explained like this. If a public body, whether local or state, has information and materials that will be discussed at an upcoming public meeting, that information must be provided to the public 24 hours before the meeting, and if a public body operates a website, that information must be uploaded to the website.

In many cases, public bodies like to hide behind what they deem as an all-encompassing FOIA (Freedom of Information Act). Items of information that legitimately fall under the FOIA rule allow the public body five days to process that information. However, not all information requests fall under the FOIA rule.

My recent experience with the Town of Southport was centered on asking for a copy of a traffic analysis study paid for by Bryne Dairy.

It is also important to note that the Southport Planning Board told Bryne Dairy to have this study done during a previous planning board meeting. This document should have been made available to the public on the town’s website.

I went to the Southport Town Hall on Monday morning May 6 to request a copy of the 54-page document. I was told by the code enforcement permit clerk that I would have to submit a FOIA request and wait five days.

I asked her if the traffic analysis study would be part of the May 6 public hearing discussion.

She said yes.

With that reply, I should have been provided a copy then and there. I also indicated that I would pay for the copy if necessary.

Andrew Patros is a Southport resident.

This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Is Town of Southport, NY violating Open Meetings Law