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Communication: On May 13, 2026 a request was made by Bruce Friedman of 8 Marvin Street for the executive session meeting minutes from the Malden City Council for the date of May 12, 2026 regarding the matter of Benevolent Botanicals LLC and 926 Eastern Avenue LLC v. City of Malden (MA Land Court Docket No. 22MISC000076)
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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 May 28, 2026 eleven members of the Malden City Council were offered a period of time to review the draft 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. On June 4, 2026 Council President Linehan authorized the approval of these minutes.
Concurrently, a periodic review was completed to determine if said minutes warranted continued non-disclosure. Under Open Meeting Law, M.G.L. c. 30A, s. 22(f) these executive session 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 stated reasons, the above meeting minutes are withheld from public release at this time.