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Conversations with directors... CONFLICT?


PennyGadget

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I'm having some trouble with our village administrator.  There's a "parks design plan" proposed by the recreation department.  There are 2 village employees running the rec dept, a director and an assistant.  I'm 36 with a young family and I'm active with school events, sports, etc.  Some families have said to me around town things like "it'd be nice to see soccer back at the park..."  I relayed this information my friends said to me... to the recreation director.  

A week later, the director got scolded by the village admin, saying he should not be talking to me (village trustee) about those things.  The admin said to the director that all of those conversations need to go through email and through him first.  

I'm positive I'm not breaching any open meetings law.  I need your advice, as I AM a newbie village trustee since last April 2019.  THANK YOU!

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12 minutes ago, PennyGadget said:

I'm having some trouble with our village administrator.  There's a "parks design plan" proposed by the recreation department.  There are 2 village employees running the rec dept, a director and an assistant.  I'm 36 with a young family and I'm active with school events, sports, etc.  Some families have said to me around town things like "it'd be nice to see soccer back at the park..."  I relayed this information my friends said to me... to the recreation director.  

A week later, the director got scolded by the village admin, saying he should not be talking to me (village trustee) about those things.  The admin said to the director that all of those conversations need to go through email and through him first.  

I'm positive I'm not breaching any open meetings law.  I need your advice, as I AM a newbie village trustee since last April 2019.  THANK YOU!

RONR has no guidance on this matter. If it is becoming an issue, the board could adopt a rule on the subject one way or the other.

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You may not be violating any Open Meetings law, but e-mail communications might create other potential problems, in that they may be what lawyers (I am not one) call discoverable, in that they would be subject to examination in connection with legal action, and if destroyed could put somebody in hot legal water.

In order not to subject your entire personal email history to such examination it may be advisable to conduct your Village business on a separate account, especially one provided by the Village itself.

But as I noted above, I'm not a lawyer and not qualified to offer an actual opinion on this, only to tell you what I've heard from the grapevine.  You would be well advised to follow it up with actual legal advice.

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