AMHERST — A Greenfield resident hired by the town to compile minutes for meetings, including Town Council sessions, is contending that Amherst officials are violating the state’s Open Meeting Law by not posting minutes in a timely manner.

But the Town Council intends to respond by rejecting the contention an Open Meeting Law violation has occurred.

At the council’s Feb. 10 meeting, Lauren Goldberg, an attorney with KP Law, told councilors that the response should be that no violations took place and that the person named in the complaint, Clerk to the Council Athena O’Keeffe, can’t violate that law.

“There is nothing under state law that requires the minutes of any meeting be posted and therefore the allegations and the complaint do not suggest a violation of the Open Meeting Law,” Goldberg said.

“Moreover, the complaint is directed to the council clerk, saying that the council clerk has violated the Open Meeting Law,” Goldberg said. “The council clerk cannot violate the Open Meeting Law; she is not subject to the Open Meeting Law.”

The complaint was filed in late January by Ahmad Esfahani, one of several new employees hired by the town to ensure that minutes are created consistent with standards set by the Town Council and O’Keeffe, Goldberg said.

Esfahani’s complaint cites the state law that minutes of open meetings must be posted within 30 days of the meeting, and these minutes must be “prepared and made available for public inspection.” Amherst’s actions, he contends, deprive the public of essential access to government records, adding that his attempts to submit drafts of minutes for review, since being hired, have been stymied.

“Such delays hinder the transparency and accountability that the law seeks to ensure, restricting public knowledge of the decisions and actions of the public body,” Esfahani wrote. “When I raised concerns about these delays and pointed out the potential violation of the Open Meeting Law, I was instead referred to Human Resources, rather than receiving an appropriate response. This referral, along with the lack of action to address the missing minutes, has further delayed compliance with the statutory requirements.”

Esfahani is seeking mandatory training for personnel and public acknowledgment of the violation.

Esfahani recently resigned from the Board of Health in Greenfield, arguing that the Health Department hesitated to put a proposed policy regulating minors’ cellphone through the public engagement process. Last April, he came to a Town Council meeting to announce he would be collecting signatures to get on the ballot as the Republican candidate for “District 2,” likely expressing interest in challenging U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern.

The response to his complaint will be written by Council President Lynn Griesemer.

Goldberg said that if there is corrective action to be done, it could be to finalize outstanding sets of minutes and have them completed for approval by March 10. “Then the town will be up to date and there will be no other action needed to be taken to be fully compliant with the Open Meeting Law,” Goldberg said.

At Large Councilor Mandi Jo Hanneke said while no violation occurred, minutes are significantly out of date, and she would like to see a plan for all council committees to minutes written and adopted.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.