Closed door discussions by Allegany County, NY, legislators are drawing the attention of a statewide open government group.
The New York Coalition For Open Government posted a Wellsville Sun story about last Wednesday’s meeting of the legislature’s Planning and Economic Development Committee.
Allegany Hope Community News Editor Casey Jones interrupted the meeting from going into executive session due to the group’s illegal process under the state Open Meetings Law, although the committee then circumvented the objection by going into an attorney-client relationship session, outside of the public eye, also under what is believed to be a second unlawful process.
Stories about the actions, as reported by the Wellsville Sun and Allegany Hope Community News, appear in prior posts to this page.
The state coalition’s post drew one comment from a City of Mechanicville resident that Allegany County isn’t the only government violating the Open Meetings Law.
A Coalition focus is to obtain state legislation, as is available in some other states, to penalize local government officials who violate the state Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) and Open Meetings Law (OML).
Allegany Hope has been an active participant with the New York Coalition For Open Government but was not involved in the organization’s decision to highlight last week’s Allegany County activity.
Allegany Hope earlier this month announced development of a county-wide Open Government Forum to help educate local government officials and the public in regard to the FOIL and (OML, identify compliance issues, and provide available resources to assist individuals having difficulty with obtaining compliance in various situations.
Those interested in learning more and possibly becoming involved in any number of different ways with the initiative can contact Jones at AlleganyHopeWNY@outlook.com or (484) 435-0503.
Government responsiveness, along with other associated activities affecting all ages, are among focuses of Allegany Hope as we encourage individuals and families to help one another by becoming involved with our free community information Ambassadors initiative for spreading the word about Building Healthy Communities Through Healthy FamiliesTM.
Volunteer Ambassadors assist in various areas of need which you, yourself, may have identified and have a passion for as it relates to greater community awareness, education and action that lead to positive impact in all areas of everyday life.