OPEN MEETING LAW COMPLAINT FORM

Office of the Attorney General

One Ashburton Place
Boston, MA 02108

Please note that all fields are required unless otherwise noted.

Your Contact Information:

First Name: Steven Last Name: Ballard

Address: Law Offices of Steven Ballard, 354 Washington Street, Suite 323

City: Wellesley State: MA Zip Code: 02481

Phone Number: 7815912750 Ext.

Email: sballard@stevenballard.com

Organization or Media Affiliation (if any):

Are you filing the complaint in your capacity as an individual, representative of an organization, or media?
(For statistical purposes only)

Individual Organization Media

Public Body that is the subject of this complaint:

City/Town County Regional/District State

Name of Public Body (including city/ Acton Board of Selectmen

town, county or region, if applicable): (Town of Acton, Massachusetts)

Specific person(s), if any, you allege

committed the violation:

Date of alleged violation: 9-17-2018

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Description of alleged violation:
Describe the alleged violation that this complaint is about. If you believe the alleged violation was intentional, please say so and include
the reasons supporting your belief.

Note: This text field has a maximum of 3000 characters.

The Acton Board of Selectmen violated the Open Meeting Law on September 17, 2018, during, and otherwise with respect to, its executive
session on that date on or about 6:30 PM, in at least the following ways: 1) By failing to convene first in open session, but rather starting
directly in the Executive Session at 6:30PM, with an Open Meeting following at 7 PM; 2) Through and on account of failure to begin in open
session, by further failing to first state the purpose(s) for entering into Executive Session,;3) Through and on account of failure to begin in
open session, by further failing to make appropriate declaration through its Chair that open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the
bargaining position of the board, as required for Executive Session under Purpose 3 (such purpose having been indicated in the agenda
notice), 4) Through and on account of failure to begin in open session, by further failing to make appropriate declaration through its Chair
that open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the negotiation position of the board, as required for Executive Session under Purpose
6 (such other purpose also having been indicated in the agenda notice), 5) Through and on account of failure to begin in open session, by
further failing to enter Executive Session through a recorded roll call vote in open session, 6) Through and on account of failure to begin in
open session, by further failing to indicate by announcement of its Chair whether it would reconvene in open session, 7) By failing in its
combined agenda notice for the September 17, 2018 Executive and Open Session meetings, to give necessary specificity for the purported
Purpose 3 reason for the Executive Session, by not identifying the specific collective bargaining unit where on information and belief there
was no justification for not so specifying, 8) By failing in its agenda notice for the September 17, 2018 Executive and Open session meetings,
to give necessary specificity for the purported Purpose 6 reason for Executive Session, by suggesting the Board has some purported
negotiating position but simply quoting the entire statutory phrase "purchase, sale, lease or value" without making clear which one of those
four was to be considered, where on information and belief there was no justification for not so specifying. 9) By failing to comply with the
Open Meeting Law, in other ways not yet possible to know, and as may be determined through AGO investigation or pursuant to
Complainant's pending public records request for a copy of the town's recent appraisal of the parcels listed in the September 17 Meeting
Notice (Agenda's description of the Executive Session scheduled for 6:30 PM). For example, on information and belief, including now-
available video of the Open Meeting, there was no legal justification for the town's withholding of that appraisal from the public, and the
Executive Session may have been entered in whole or in part to aid in such withholding; thus there may have been an improper purpose(s)
for Executive Session. (Such other violations of the Open Meeting Law may later become clear, and may lead to a new complaint.)

What action do you want the public body to take in response to your complaint?
Note: This text field has a maximum of 500 characters.

1) Release the unredacted minutes of the purported Executive Session to the Complainant and AGO for
review, along with real estate appraisal of the listed parcels used by Board in Executive Session. 2) Release
that appraisal of parcels as public record for which there is no valid exemption, and pursuant to recent
Acton Town Meeting vote requesting such appraisal, 3) Commit to an immediate program of education
for the Chair, Town Manager, and all other board members in the Open Meeting Law.

Review, sign, and submit your complaint

I. Disclosure of Your Complaint.
Public Record. Under most circumstances, your complaint, and any documents submitted with your complaint, is considered a public record
and will be available to any member of the public upon request.

Publication to Website. As part of the Open Data Initiative, the AGO will publish to its website certain information regarding your complaint,
including your name and the name of the public body. The AGO will not publish your contact information.

II. Consulting With a Private Attorney.

The AGO cannot give you legal advice and is not able to be your private attorney, but represents the public interest. If you have any questions
concerning your individual legal rights or responsibilities you should contact a private attorney.

III. Submit Your Complaint to the Public Body.

The complaint must be filed first with the public body. If you have any questions, please contact the Division of Open Government by calling
(617) 963-2540 or by email to openmeeting@state.ma.us.

By signing below, I acknowledge that I have read and understood the provisions above and certify that the information I have provided is true
and correct to the best of my knowledge.

Signed: ___________________________________________ September 25, 2018

Date:____________________________
For Use By Public Body For Use By AGO
Date Received by Public Body: Date Received by AGO:
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