SALISBURY, Md. - A Maryland State Board has found the Salisbury City Council violated the "Open Meetings Act" during a June Council Work Session.
The Act sets guidelines for meetings of public bodies.
It was on June 20th that then-Council President Muir Boda called a closed session.
Afterward, Boda said the Council was discussing a legal matter. "The Salisbury City Council met in closed session to obtain legal advice on a legal matter from our legal counsel," he said at the time.
But the Maryland Open Meetings Act Compliance Board has found that closed session went beyond that.
This all centers around the Council amending the sale of three downtown parking lots to allow a developer to build apartments.
The board found "the discussion went beyond the mere interchange between the client public body and its lawyer."
Downtown Real Estate agent Holly Worthington was one of those who filed the complaint. Worthington is happy with the outcome, but wants the Council to now reconsider the sale.
"I think moving forward that hopefully this opens people's eyes and that the City Council is more transparent. I don't feel that the way this meeting was conducted was in the public's best interest," Worthington said.
Council President April Jackson, who was Council Vice President at the time of the violation read part of the Board's findings at Monday night's Council meeting.
Jackson says the City Council will be careful to ensure violations do not happen again. "I have no problem admitting when we are in the wrong at all because when you're wrong, you're wrong and you need to you know, make it visible for everybody so transparency works for me," she said.
Part of the Board's findings required the Council to acknowledge and announce the violation, which was done on Monday evening.
