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Communication: From Council President Linehan regarding the approval of draft executive session minutes under the provisions of M.G.L. c. 30A, s. 22(g)(1)
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Pursuant to M.G.L. c. 30A, s. 22(g)(1), with the approval of Council President Linehan and City Solicitor McNeil, on March 9, 2026 eleven members of the Malden City Council were offered a one-month period of time to review seven sets of draft executive session minutes in the privacy of the City Clerk's Office. If there were any motions for amendments or need for further discussion a date would be set to meet in Executive Session to deliberate. Otherwise, if there were no objections, on behalf of the Body, Council President Linehan would be tasked with the approval of said minutes. After the one-month review period had expired, on April 9, Council President Linehan authorized the approval of all draft executive session minutes.
Concurrently, a periodic review was completed to determine if a number of minutes warranted continued non-disclosure. Council President Linehan, under the advice of counsel from Solicitor McNeil, has now ordered the City Clerk to release the executive session minutes from the meetings of 4/20/2021, 3/8/2022, 2/28/2023, 4/30/2024, 6/25/2024, 7/24/2024, and 3/11/2025.
Under Open Meeting Law, M.G.L. c. 30A, s. 22(f) certain executive session meeting minutes are being withheld "as publication may defeat the lawful purpose[s] of the executive session". Under the Public Records Law, these same sets of executive session meeting minutes are being withheld based on attorney-client privilege. (See Suffolk Construction Co. v. Division of Capital Asset Management, 449 Mass. 609, 619 (2007)) The meetings were held in executive session with the City Solicitor and City officials (attorney-client relationship); the City officials sought legal advice from the City Solicitor; and the communications of these meetings have not been waived.
For the above reasons, the following meeting minutes ...
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