SOUTH HADLEY — Two new Open Meeting Law violations bring the total to five in less than two years for the South Hadley Electric Light Department Board of Commissioners.

The state attorney general’s office ruled Nov. 29 that the board failed to provide sufficient detail about its executive sessions, improperly held an emergency meeting and failed to properly respond to a request for minutes and an Open Meeting Law complaint, according to decisions written by Assistant Attorney General Hanne Rush.

None of the complaints has invalidated actions taken by the board.

Board Chairwoman Anne Awad said Tuesday she was “disappointed” and “embarrassed” by the violations but found some affirmation in the findings that the board conducted its meetings properly.

“There is some validation that we were performing properly but we were not posting properly,” Awad said. “You learn something every time. Unfortunately, it’s painful.”

The two complaints that prompted the ruling were filed in April and August of this year by Wayne Doerpholz, the former department manager. Doerpholz also filed a complaint in February 2016 against the board.

The AG’s office ruled most recently in June that the board had violated the Open Meeting Law for a third time in less than two years.

“After the first one, each of us individually took a renewal tutorial — a video that the AG’s office provides for training on the Open Meeting Law,” Awad said.

During the period the violations occurred, Awad said, the board had no clerical support, which made it very difficult to manage the department’s day-to-day affairs as well as pending legal actions filed against SHELD that involved Doerpholz’s employment.

“At this point, we do have good clerical support, we have much more structure in place,” Awad said.

Attempts to reach Doerpholz, his attorney, Robert Leonard, and an attorney for SHELD, Layla Taylor, were unsuccessful Tuesday.

The board voted not to renew Doerpholz’s contract in May. Doerpholz and a SHELD engineer had been placed on leave the previous October after another employee had complained about violence and intimidation in the workplace.

Doerpholz had requested $471,000 for 35 years worth of accrued vacation and sick time after he was placed on leave. After an investigation by state Inspector General Glenn Cunha, the board in May approved paying Doerpholz $18,454 upon his departure instead.

In his April complaint, Doerpholz alleged that the board failed to properly respond to his request for executive session minutes as well as list executive session topics with sufficient detail for three meetings this year — Jan. 20, Feb. 9 and Feb. 25. He also alleged the board discussed him in executive session during those meetings without notifying him and allowing him to be present.

The AG’s office declined to review allegations about the Jan. 20 meeting because the complaint was “untimely.” Open Meeting Law complaints must be filed with the public body within 30 days of the alleged violation, according to the law.

The AG’s office agreed with Doerpholz that the board failed to provide sufficient detail about the executive sessions, both in the meeting notice and in the announcement prior to the executive session as well as properly respond to a request for minutes, but ruled that the discussions were properly held.

“While we find the discussions were appropriate for executive session … both on the meeting notice and in the announcement prior to the executive session, lacked sufficient detail,” Rush wrote.

The meeting notices for Feb. 9 and 25 failed to identify Doerpholz as well as the specific litigation matter to be discussed, “despite it being a pending matter publicly filed in federal court,” Rush wrote.

With the latest rulings, Awad said she learned again that the language the board used in posting its meeting needed to be more specific than language they had taken from the AG’s office.

“A common one we used was litigation strategy,” Awad said. “We weren’t specifying that it was in relation to a particular case. We will be able to do that in the future.”

During the three meetings reviewed, the board convened behind closed doors to discuss whether to renew Doerpholz’s contract.

Following those meetings, Doerpholz requested the minutes and any related documentation. At the time, Awad responded that the executive session minutes were not to be released until the resolution of “the various legal challenges being addressed by the board,” according to the ruling.

The AG’s office ruled that Awad’s response was inadequate and that the board should have provided the open session portion of the minutes to Doerpholz.

The board also should have conducted a review “to determine whether continued nondisclosure of the (executive session) minutes was warranted,” Rush wrote.

The attorney general’s office also disagreed with the board’s reasoning for not disclosing the executive session minutes, saying the exemption expired “at the very latest” when Doerpholz’s contract finished and the board ended negotiations.

The board was ordered to comply with the law both immediately and in the future, publicly release the executive meeting minutes and provide Doerpholz with the copies.

In the August complaint, Doerpholz alleged the board improperly held an emergency meeting on June 2 and failed to follow procedure for convening executive session.

That meeting came a day after the AG’s office ruled that the board had previously violated the Open Meeting Law by holding an improper emergency meeting as well as failing to provide sufficient detail about executive session topics. He also alleged the board deliberated about his contract during a prior meeting without notice.

The AG’s office agreed with Doerpholz that the board held an improper emergency meeting but found no evidence that the board violated the law in other ways he alleged. The board was again ordered to comply with the law and release minutes of the executive session with the public.

“I think we are going to be OK. There is no other Open Meeting Law complaints out there now — everything has been determined,” Awad said. “I think we are doing everything we can do to be proper and within the law, step by step.”

Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettenet.com.