Believe it or not, the McCrea v. Flaherty case is still going on, the City has spent about $100,000 of taxpayer money fighting it with no end in sight.
We have been trying to negotiate a settlement with the council on the remaining counts that they have not already been found guilty of. Our offer to them was to admit that the prior meetings had been in violation of the Open Meeting Law, and to work with them to establish a Sunshine Commission similar to the one in San Francisco to make sure that Boston had a best in the country policy towards transparency. In other words, we gave them a chance to really look good and to enact policy which would improve the interaction between the elected officials and the public. Here is their response from their attorney Mary Harris:
Dear Mr. McCrea, Ms. Devine, Ms. Kressel,
I write to inform you that the Council has met to consider your settlement proposal, and declines the terms you propose.
I am out of the office, returning on August 25. Perhaps we can speak to see if the area of disagreement can be narrowed, although any resolution that would include a requirement that the Council undertake commitments beyond which the court may impose after a hearing would be unacceptable to the Council. We believe your demand to establish a "Sunshine Ordinance Task Force" aimed at development of a San Francisco-like local law to be such a requirement.
We do remain willing to reach a compromise, if one can be agreed to within the parameters of the existing law.
Best regards,
Mary Jo Harris
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1 comment:
Who is the judge?...
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