SOUTH HADLEY – The South Hadley Electric Light Department board violated the state’s Open Meeting Law in multiple ways when it convened an emergency closed-door session last fall and put former general manager Wayne Doerpholz and engineer Andrew Orr on paid leave, according to a ruling by the state Attorney General’s Office.
The AG’s Division of Open Government found that the meeting was improperly held because the board did not post notice of it at least 48 hours in advance.
The division also determined that the board failed to provide a sufficient description of the executive session topic, provided no reason for its executive session during its announcement in open session, took no role call vote as required by law, and did not assert that having the meeting in public would be detrimental to the board’s litigation position.
“These failures are all violations of the Open Meeting Law,” Assistant Attorney General Hanna Rush wrote in a ruling delivered to the board.
As a result, the division ordered the SHELD board to release its Oct. 26, 2015 executive session minutes without portions redacted and to undergo Open Meeting Law training within 30 days of the June 1 ruling.
Because Doerpholz was able to attend the meeting with his attorney, the division declined to order the board to reinstate him to his position. Orr was placed on paid leave May 10 for the second time in six months over what the board described as a “personnel issue” that is under investigation after a complaint was filed against him; the AG’s ruling said nothing about Orr’s current employment status.
The AG’s office did not find evidence that the board had previously deliberated outside the posted Oct. 26, 2015 meeting, which was among the allegations outlined in a February complaint filed by Springfield attorney Robert Leonard on behalf of Doerpholz, whose contract expired last week and was not renewed by the board.
Attempts to reach Doerpholz and Anne Awad, the board’s chairwoman, were unsuccessful Tuesday.
The Open Meeting Law violations are the third time in less than two years that the SHELD board has violated the Open Meeting Law. However, the AG’s office declined to find that the latest violations were intentional because the board’s membership has changed since the previous two violations in January 2015 and September 2014.
The ruling also came one day before the board called an emergency executive session last week to discuss “litigation strategy” on a “time-sensitive legal issue.” That meeting notice came two days after state Inspector General Glenn Cunha provided an opinion to the board regarding a payout for Doerpholz.
Cunha says Doerpholz is owed $15,149 in vacation time, or $461,000 less than the former general manager claims in vacation and accrued sick leave.
“Paying Doerpholz money that is not owed to him would be a waste of public funds,” states Cunha’s May 31 letter to the board.
The Oct. 26, 2015 emergency executive session was held three days after the board received notice that Robert Blasko, an electrician working for SHELD, had filed a federal whistleblower lawsuit. The suit alleges that Orr created an unsafe work environment by bullying and at times assaulting employees. The complaint alleges Doerpholz failed to stop Orr’s behavior and allegedly took retaliatory actions against Blasko for raising the issue.
The board called the Oct. 26, 2015 meeting to discuss “Legal Claims Against SHELD.” Doerpholz attended the meeting during which the board voted to place both men on paid leave after discussing the lawsuit. Orr was not present.
The board told investigators from the AG’s office that an emergency meeting was necessary to “secure and preserve evidence” that was in the direct control of Doerpholz, according to the AG’s office.
“The Board did not provide a valid justification for October 26, 2015 ‘emergency’ meeting,” Assistant Attorney General Rush wrote in the June 1 decision. “… (A)lthough the suit was filed on a Friday, the Board waited until Monday to hold this emergency meeting, rather than holding it over the weekend.
This delay demonstrates that the matter did not demand immediate action and therefore did not qualify as an ‘emergency’ as defined by the law.”
The ruling states that an emergency is defined as a “sudden, generally unexpected occurrence or set of circumstances demanding immediate action,” and that “emergency meetings are reserved for circumstances that are unanticipated and require an immediate response to, for example, protect public safety or health.”
Lastly, the AG’s office ruled that the board’s discussion about the discipline of Doerpholz and Orr was improperly held in executive session under the purpose used for discussing collective bargaining or litigation strategy, rather than the purpose that covers the discipline or dismissal of employees.
Staff Writer Dan Crowley can be reached at dcrowley@gazettenet.com.