What's New in Open Government...

A continuing series with news about open government issues around Massachusetts. The following are stories about open government issues that appeared during the second half of September:

City Council Reviews Open Meeting Law
(Sept. 16, 2008, The Roslindale Transcript)
Another story about the Boston City Council’s Open Meeting Law confusion.
Contains a great quote from At-Large City Councilor Sam Yoon: “‘The public has the right to know what we do on the council. Open government is good government … That’s one of the reasons I ran for office, to bring in more people into the process,’ said Yoon. ‘So I think that’s something we need to have in mind at all times as we go about this.’”

A Brief History of Open Meeting Law Complaints in Amherst
(Sept. 19, 2008, Amherst Bulletin)
Brief run down of unfounded claims of violations and violations of the open meeting law. The Amherst town meeting tried to pass a bylaw in 2007 imposing fines on violators.

West Side Gets It Right; Hub Goes Awry
(Sept. 21, 2008, The Republican)
More on the Boston City Council Open Meeting Law matter.

Open Meeting Training Planned in Pittsfield
(Sept. 23, 2008, iberkshires.com)
Story about Pittsfield public officials receiving training sponsored by the Berkshire DA and the Secretary of State’s Public Records Division on the requirements of the open meeting law. Good to see some public officials are being trained at least.

Williams Gets $37,000 Settlement Agreement
(Sept. 24, 2008, The Nantucket Independent)
Story describes the trouble the newspaper had obtaining a copy from the town of the settlement agreement in an employment matter. The town released the document only after it was ordered to do so by the Public Records Division of the Secretary of State’s office.

Uncovering the Hidden Health Hazards at Restaurants
(Sept. 27, 2008, The Metrowest Daily News)
This is a story about access or the difficulty of obtaining access to health inspection reports. The Patriot Ledger attempted to obtain the reports from 6 local health departments and reported on its results.