Complaints Filed Against Rehoboth Selectmen, Finance Committee

On December 27, Dighton-Rehoboth School Committee chairperson Katherine Cooper filed separate complaints against the Rehoboth Board of Selectmen and the town’s finance committee.

Cooper alleges selectmen posted their December 18 meeting on December 17, which gave less than 24 hours notice and did not meet the 48 hour meeting requirement.

Cooper said three out of the five members of the finance committee attended a meeting for the regional school district on December 16. “They discussed town finances and upcoming projects in a quorum without the proper posting. The meeting was a Superintendent Advisory meeting,” Cooper stated.

The members were finance committee chairman Michael Deignan, George Solas, who is also a member of the school committee, and Susan McBride.

Cooper is requesting the committee to “properly post quorums and retrain on the Open Meeting laws.”

The board of selectmen had filed a complaint alleging the school committee violated open meeting law when they scheduled a district-wide “Tent” meeting on November 2.

In the complaint filed on December 27, Town Counsel Omar Bennani claimed that the decision to approve the warrant for the meeting was not made in open session at a publicly posted meeting, and therefore the agendas for the school committee’s September 30 and October 17 meetings provided no indication “that a discussion concerning the district-wide meeting or the approval of the warrant would occur.”

Bennani also alleged the committee engaged in improper deliberation in their executive sessions as well as outside of a public meeting.

Bennani said the town was requesting the Division of Open Government to order the committee to acknowledge its violation of open meeting law, rescind its votes as to these matters, and attend training to prevent future violations.

Cooper dismissed the selectmen’s complaint, noting they were “wasting more taxpayers’ money on lawyers arguing about a meeting that never even happened.”