City of Gardner Victim of “Complaint Xeroxing” Resulting in Special Meeting
The Gardner MA City Council is having a special meeting on 6:30pm Wednesday, July 31, 2024. The topic: 14 Open Meeting Law complaints filed by Paul DeMeo on behalf of himself and others regarding the July 1, 2024 City Council meeting. While there are additional signatures on the forms, the complaints are not unique to each individual, but appear to be exact copies of the DeMeo complaint. From the time stamps on the emails from DeMeo, it is evident he sent them all to the City. All the complaints are identical with just a different signature page. The City has been “Complaint Xeroxed” 100 page Meeting Agenda and Packet, CLICK HERE.
Publisher’s Note: This is called “Complaint Xeroxing” where a complainant attempts to magnify a complaint by duplicating it and getting others to simply “sign on”. This is problematic as no one person looks at a situation identically so complaints submitted in this manner are usually considered frivolous automatically. The question is whether there can be civil or criminal sanctions against an individual for engaging in “Complaint Xeroxing”. The Assistant City Solicitor was contacted by Gardner Magazine but advised that he could not comment on a pending case. We have also reached out to the Town Administrator of Natick as that community has been a past victim of frivolous OML complaints. Gardner Magazine is also checking on the status of a 2019 State Bill designed to curb frivolous or harassing OML complaints which cost cities and towns thousands of taxpayer dollars.
In his complaint, DeMeo alleges that persons who did not fit in the City Council chambers were “herded to Perry Auditorium where audio/visual was set-up to view the council meeting. The audio was very poor in Perry Auditorium and much was not able to be understood by those in attendance.”
DeMeo goes on to make accusations as to the motivations of the City Council President writing, “I believe this to be a deliberate attempt by Miss Kazinskas to divide the opposition to the racetrack whereas she could have the council meeting in the auditorium….has scheduled a Public Hearing for the racetrack proposal on July 23, 2024 where she plans once again to divide the residents between the two rooms.”
As far as relief sought, DeMeo wants meetings in Perry Auditorium upon being advised of a large crowd and he wants Kazinskas to issue a public apology.
Proposed response from the City of Gardner includes “use of the overflow room has been approved by the Attorney General”, “use of a second room to accommodate a large crowd does not violate the Open Meeting Law.”, “city respectfully disagrees with the assertion that the audio was poor.” In addition, the response notes, “The first time a complaint was received by the city was when the public hearing was posted for the vote on the underlying matter.”
In another communication, Paul DeMeo on July 15, 2024 states, “Your further defiance of providing adequate space for the Public at the Public Hearing scheduled for Tuesday, July 23rd is rude and unacceptable.” He then also asks that the hearing be moved to Landry Auditorium at Gardner High School. Obviously, the July 23rd Public Hearing was held with a similar setup to the July 1st meeting.
The Gardner City Council will be asked to approve the response drafted by the Assistant City Solicitor and act in any other way regarding the matter.
Attorney Scott Graves responded in part, “There is no such thing that a certain “journalist” (haha) proclaims, as if he’s a Judge, that a Citizen is putting himself or herself in legal trouble by copying someone else’s complaint, and signing his or her name to it, and filing it with the City. Someone should tell Legal Zoom that, because they are now out of business. Judge Journalist has ruled that if a Citizen does that, the complaint is “automatically frivolous.” That is false. Automatically frivolous? There is no such thing – it’s made up. If the City thinks something is “automatically frivolous,” the City goes to its buddy, the Attorney General. But, in the end, only a Judge in Superior Court can rule something to be “frivolous.” Publisher’s Note: Attorney Graves missed that “Complaint Xeroxing” is a term coined first here on Gardner Magazine. Graves also incorrectly states, “If the Assistant City Solicitor, as Judge Journalist suggests (in writing), is poised to rule that all of those Copycat Complaints are “automatically frivolous…” As clearly noted above, the only communication Gardner Magazine received from the Assistant City Solicitor’s office was that he could have no comment on a pending case. Publisher’s Note: What is relevant is that Graves confirms these are copycat complaints. We are awaiting information on the status of a MA State Bill which would codify this activity as frivolous and legally actionable due to the costly impact on cities and towns.