Judge: Give more info about closed meetings
Advocate sued school board over resolutions read for closed sessions
BY JESSICA SMITH
Correspondent

MONROE - An open public meetings advocate has won a ruling against the township's Board of Education.

John Paff sued the board on grounds that it does not include enough information in the resolutions it routinely passes before closed or executive sessions. Last week, state Superior Court Judge Alexander Waugh issued a written opinion to resolve the lawsuit.

"... The board must make a good faith effort to provide the public with as much knowledge as possible without endangering the 'public interest' or the right of others," Waugh wrote in his statement.

Paff, chairman of the Open Government Task Force for the Libertarian Party of Central New Jersey, volunteers his time to ensure that governing bodies throughout the state are adhering to the Open Public Meetings Act of 1975, commonly referred to as the "Sunshine Law."

Paff said he checked on the Monroe school board and found it would read the same vague resolution at each meeting before going into closed session. The board's resolutions only state that the board plans to deliberate on "personnel, negotiations, legal and student matters."

"My contention is that such a vague notice really informs the public of nothing and that N.J.S.A. 10:4-13 requires the closed session topics to be more precisely identified," Paff said.

Another issue Paff had with the board's closed session resolutions was that they allowed the board to "convene into closed session as the need may arise at any time during the public session, immediately after adjournment or at any time prior to the next public meeting." Such language makes it possible for the board to go into closed session whenever it decides to, without giving any real prior notice to the public, he said.

Waugh agreed with Paff's assertion, ruling that the board should go into closed session only after it has informed the public of the meeting, and of what they plan to discuss.

"It's not ... a big deal," Board of Education President Kathy Kolupanowich said. "I look at it as just fine-tuning what we're already doing."

Kolupanowich said she thinks boards of education in most other towns conduct their closed-session resolutions in the same way. Now, instead of starting board meetings at the usual time of 8 p.m., the board will open the meetings at 6:30 p.m., when it will introduce the resolution to go into closed session and give a more detailed idea of what will be discussed. After the closed session has taken place, the board will re-convene with the public at about 8 p.m. for the regular meeting.

Paff filed the lawsuit in September. Judge Waugh heard arguments via telephone Jan. 19 on cross-motions for summary judgment. Paff said Waugh was paying close attention to the case, and asked numerous questions of attorney James Schwerin, who was representing the board.

"The board has made no effort to provide the public with as much knowledge as possible," Waugh wrote. "It has merely recited the provisions of the statute, not made an attempt to comply with it."

Paff said Schwerin, an attorney for the New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA), accused Paff of having ulterior, political motives for initiating the lawsuit because he does not reside in Monroe.

"We obviously don't win many elections, we're a small political party," Paff, a Somerset resident, said of the Libertarian Party. "We do have a genuine interest in open government."

Most members of the public would not file such a lawsuit, Paff said, because there is no provision in the law to allow for attorneys' fees to be paid by a governmental body if the plaintiff wins, and the case itself is an extremely complicated undertaking. In this case, the judge ruled that the board pay for costs incurred by Paff in the lawsuit.

Each party has 45 days to appeal the decision, and Monroe Board of Education Attorney Bertram Busch said he would not rule out the possibility of an appeal.

Paff said he did not know whether the board intentionally excludes the public or if it had fallen into the practice by habit. Either way, he said he sees it as a problem that the board does not divulge more about what is being discussed in closed session.

"It causes one to rightfully be suspicious of what they're doing," Paff said.

The Board of Education is not the first defendant to face a lawsuit from Paff. He has made it a regular practice to research the proceedings of governing bodies and school boards in municipalities throughout the state. When he finds that they are not adhering to laws, he contacts them and in many cases seeks to have it addressed in the courts.

On Open Public Meetings Act issues, Paff has also sued Lawnside Borough, Union Township, the Franklin Township Redevelopment Agency and on two occasions the Perth Amboy City Council. He said he has reached favorable settlements in all but one case, while the Lawnside matter is still in court.

Paff has filed successful lawsuits regarding Open Public Records issues against Edison, the state Department of Labor, West Milford Township and Plainsboro Township. The Plainsboro case is still being appealed, however.