During their August 15 meeting, Lee Select Board members signed a complaint letter to be submitted to the Housatonic Rest of River Municipal Committee alleging misconduct, violations of state laws, and attempts to deceive town officials regarding action taken by Chair Tom Matuszko.
The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) assists in the committee’s finances, technical expertise, facilitation, and coordination. The letter requested the Rest of River Committee demand the BRPC act as an impartial facilitator, without bias toward any aspect of the Rest of the River project, and appoint a new chair to oversee the committee, with those items occurring before September 29.
Although a violation of the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law complaint was upheld by the state’s attorney general regarding a March 27 agenda item, “Approval of Expenditure of Funds,” at the time of the review, the attorney general stated it “had no evidence of intent to violate the open meeting law,” Jones quoted the complaint letter aloud. “Since that time the town of Lee has received information that can imply the potential for intent,” he said.
Background
The measure stems from a lawsuit filed by two nonprofit organizations, Housatonic River Initiative (HRI) and Housatonic Environmental Action League (HEAL), seeking to overturn a 2020 permit to clean up the Housatonic River following decades of toxins, now-banned polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), emitted into the waterway by General Electric from its Pittsfield electric transformer plant. The 2020 permit issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and agreed to by the Rest of River’s five Berkshire towns—Great Barrington, Lee, Lenox, Sheffield, and Stockbridge—as well as GE and the Environmental Protection Agency provided that an upland disposal facility (UDF) would be constructed in Lee to house a portion of the PCBs to be extracted from the Housatonic River. The town of Lee was represented in that agreement by its former Select Board members.
According to the BRPC, the Rest of River Committee was created in 2013 to push for increased EPA cleanup of the waterway, with its members appointed by their respective five Berkshire town governments.
In the action, HRI and HEAL alleged the permit agreement was negotiated behind closed doors and without public input. Following a rejection of the petition that would have forced a review of the 2020 permit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit confirmed the prior decision, leaving the 2020 permit in place. The Rest of River Committee was represented by Pawa as an Intervenor in the appeal and opposed the HRI and HEAL action.
Complaint letter specifics
Citing an email from Matuszko to Pawa, the letter alleges that the committee sought to delay giving information to Lee’s representatives in case the Lee officials would attempt to provide that information to the organizations embroiled in the lawsuit to which the committee opposed.
“If you want to discuss strategy with [the] committee, it might be better to do so closer to the May 4 date in case our lead committee member opponent gives those discussion comments to HRI’s attorney,” Jones read, quoting the Matuszko email in the Board’s letter to the Rest of River Committee. “Alternatively, and having watched way too much TV, you could provide misleading information to throw their attorneys off track.”
These allegations were also cited in a June 22 release by the town of Lee.
Jones said the email proved an attempt to deceive Lee officials and violate the state’s open meeting law, and the Select Board was especially concerned that Matuszko, as chair, was not acting in an impartial capacity. Per the Open Meeting Law, he said the Rest of River Committee must review the complaint, take remedial action, and respond to the Attorney General.
Following unanimous approval of the complaint letter, meeting spectators offered a round of applause and approached the dais to commend the action taken.
Board members also approved Jones’ resignation as the alternate delegate to the BRPC. He was appointed on July 18 to serve with Lee delegate Buck Donovan and attended its July 20 meeting. Jones said he resigned because his continued involvement in the group “would simply be an exercise in futility.”
Other action
At the meeting, Select Board members also:
- Approved two one-day entertainment license applications for Founder’s Day weekend to the Lee Chamber of Commerce;
- Approved a request to waive an annual inspection fee to St. Mary’s Church;
- Approved a temporary sign permit and fee waiver to Greener Gateway; and
- Adopted and signed the Cannabis Social Equity Policies as required by the state.
