SPRINGFIELD — The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission has named the head of a Nevada-based regional planning agency as its new executive director, though the commission is now looking into whether its election process violated the state’s Open Meeting Law.
Kimberly Robinson, who has led the Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Agency since 2011, was voted into the Pioneer Valley role by 18 board members on June 27. Robinson is set to replace Tim Brennan, who is retiring as executive director. She beat out the other finalist for the job, Northampton planning director Wayne Feiden, who received five total votes.
A Northampton lawyer, Michael Pill, has publicly questioned whether the planning commission violated the state’s Open Meeting Law by conducting that vote by secret ballot. Massachusetts General Law chapter 30A section 22 states that “no vote taken at an open session shall be by secret ballot,” and that “any vote taken at an executive session shall be recorded by roll call and entered into the minutes.”
“In my opinion, any contract they sign with this person that they selected with that illegal secret ballot, I don’t see how that could be a legal contract,” Pill told the Gazette when reached by phone Friday morning. “I would like to challenge the planning commission to redo that vote by a public roll call so that everybody knows where everybody stands.”
James Mazik, the PVPC’s deputy director, said Friday that the planning commission’s chairman is discussing the situation with legal counsel.
“We’re getting guidance and then we’ll proceed accordingly,” he said.
If it turns out that the vote was taken in violation of Open Meeting Law, Mazik said the planning commission’s board would need to reconvene and conduct a formal vote as a roll call.
Mazik said the PVPC has not yet signed a contract with Robinson. Those negotiations will proceed after resolving the legal question about last week’s vote, he said.
The PVPC is the regional planning body for the Pioneer Valley region, which encompasses 43 cities and towns in Hampden and Hampshire counties. It is a consortium of local governments that, though a public sector agency, is “not a direct arm of federal or state governments,” according to the organization’s website.
Feiden could not be reached for comment Friday.
Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.