By Kevin Rothstein

Online & Herald Print Subscribers LOG IN

E-mail article to a friend E-mail article

Councilors accused of $$ sneak

By Kevin Rothstein Boston City Hall Bureau Chief

Wednesday, May 24, 2006 - Updated: 01:29 AM EST Boston city councilors are again accused of violating the state Open Meeting Law - this time in a lawsuit that alleges they went behind closed doors to tinker with a plan to hike city bigwigs' salaries. "It's hard to imagine. This is not a complicated law," Fenway activist and plaintiff Kathleen Devine said yesterday. Devine, along with former City Council candidate Kevin McCrea and activist Shirley Kressel, filed the lawsuit Monday in Suffolk Superior Court accusing councilors on the Government Operations committee of meeting secretly to modify the pay changes. advertisement4.gif The Government Operations committee canceled a public hearing on the raises but recommended changes anyway, leading Devine to say the committee members violated the Open Meeting Law. A Government Operations Committee report distributed May 2 recommended "that this matter ought to pbutt in a new draft." The report goes on to say that five members of the seven on the committee - Chairwoman Maureen Feeney, James Kelly, Jerry McDermott, Stephen Murphy and Michael Ross - agreed with the new draft. "When it came back for a vote it had been both modified and amended, and there was no public hearing. Ergo they had to have met in some fashion outside of public view and amended and modified it," Devine said. Speaking generally, it would be possible for a committee to legally modify a proposal without a public hearing, said Boston Corporation Counsel William Sinnott. But Sinnott said he could not comment about the suit since he had not seen it yet. "I understand a complaint has been given to the press. As of this time it has not been served on the city of Boston, the City Council or my office. buttuming we have been properly served we will be making our response in court," Sinnott said. Feeney and a spokesman for City Council President Michael Flaherty both declined to comment, saying they hadn't seen the complaint. Last March Suffolk Superior Court Judge Nancy Staffier Holtz ruled the council had violated the Open Meeting Law 11 times between 2003 and 2005 while discussing the Boston Redevelopment Authority's urban renewal plan. She fined the council $11,000 and, according to Devine, sent her report to Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley's office. Conley, who is charged with enforcing the Open Meeting Law in Suffolk County, declined to comment. A spokesman said the DA hadn't received any new allegations.

Rate this article9

Current Rating: 4.1111 Stars

E-mail article to a friend E-mail article

kevinRothstein50.jpg Kevin Rothstein Kevin Rothstein started as the night cops reporter and covered schools and youth before becoming the Boston city hall bureau chief. The Daily Briefing