The Complainant alleged the Town Council violated the OMA during its December 8, 2014 meeting, when it improperly met with the School Committee Chairperson in executive session. The Complainant also alleged the Town Council met in executive session for the improper purpose of developing interview questions, establishing qualifications and obtaining advice regarding municipal positions, including the position of Assistant Solicitor for Schools. The OMA does not expressly govern who may attend executive or closed sessions and we found nothing within the OMA, nor were we directed to any provision, that would enable us to conclude that the Town Council violated the OMA by including the School Committee Chairperson during the portion of the executive session where the Town Council was interviewing candidates for the position of Assistant Solicitor for Schools. There is no question that since the Town Council was interviewing for the position of Assistant Solicitor for Schools, the attendance of the School Committee Chairperson was reasonably related to the purpose of the executive session. Accordingly, we found no violation. Our in camera review of the executive session minutes and audio recording also revealed that the School Committee Chairperson exited the executive session prior to the start of the interviews and that the executive session did not consist of establishing qualifications nor developing general interview questions. As such, we found no violation with respect to that allegation.
