Attend all of your town meetings and record them.
Use an old smart phone. Erase all the data. Take it to every meeting and either voice record or video record the meeting from as soon as you walk in the room till you leave. Meetings may not follow the Agenda. Guest may speak out of turn. Be smart and record the entire meeting.
Purchase a tripod! I use UBeesize 62″ on Amazon.
New York State Open Meeting Law requires that meeting minutes are provided within two weeks. The minutes should be stamped with the date the document was received by the town clerk. If the town maintains a regularly updated website then the minutes must be posted online within two weeks. Again, check this for. time and date stamp.
If the minutes are not provided then send a letter to the town supervisor documenting the possible violation of the New York State Open Meeting Law.
Information on the NYS Open Meeting Law from the Department of State.
DRAFT LETTER
Dear Supervisor/Mayor NAME,
As of today, DATE AND TIME, the MEETING DATE Draft Planning Board Meeting Minutes are not posted at town hall and/or on the town website. For your reference, please find enclosed a screenshot of webpage “2022 Planning Board Meetings Minutes” captured on DATE: URL OF WEBPAGE.
New York State Open Meeting Law 106.3 requires minutes be made available within two weeks of the board meeting. Additionally, if the town maintains a routinely updated website and uses a high speed internet connection the minutes shall be posted on the town website within two weeks.
According to New York State Law the DATE Draft Planning Board Meeting Minutes should be posted at town hall and/or on the town website on or before DATE (MEETING DATE PLUS 14 CALENDAR DAYS).
It appears that the Planning Board is in violation of NYS Open Meeting Law 106.3.
Failure to post minutes on time deprives the taxpayers of valuable information in a timely manner. LIST HOW NOT HAVING THE MINUTES HAS HARMED YOU.
It appears that the planning board is not being transparent and accountable to the taxpayers.
For your convenience the text for the NYS Open Meeting Law Section 106.3 is below:
Section 106.3. Minutes of meetings of all public bodies shall be available to the public in accordance with the provisions of the freedom of information law within two weeks from the date of such meeting except that minutes taken pursuant to subdivision two of this section shall be available to the public within one week from the date of the executive session. If the agency in which a public body functions maintains a regularly and routinely updated website and utilizes a high speed internet connection, such minutes shall be posted on the website within two weeks from the date of such meeting except that minutes taken pursuant to subdivision two of this section shall be available to the public within one week from the date of the executive session. For purposes of this subdivision unabridged video recordings or unabridged audio recordings or unabridged written transcripts may be deemed to be meeting minutes. Nothing in this section shall require the creation of minutes if the public body would not otherwise take them.
Please direct the Planning Board to uphold New York State law and post the draft minutes at town hall and/or to the town website within two weeks of their meetings.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
NAME
ADDRESS
EMAIL ADDRESS.