It appears that communications regarding the proposed landfill expansion have been taking place between members of the Northampton City Council. Click here to download in PDF format a series of emails between City Councilor Robert Reckman and other councilors, Mayor Mary Clare Higgins, City Solicitor Janet Sheppard, and the Board of Public Works, concerning plans for Mayor Higgins and the Board of Public Works to conduct a public meeting or meetings concerning the landfill proposal.
Though these emails were distributed to Northampton city councilors, notably absent from the distribution list is the attorney Mayor Higgins hired to advise the council, Michael Pill. It is unclear why the BPW is addressing the council regarding this matter, when the council was advised by Solicitor Sheppard and Pill not to involve itself with outside entities concerning the proposed landfill expansion. In this regard, Higgins and the BPW are outside entities. In my view, this equates to a plaintiff or defendant in a court case telegraphing to a judge or jury his or her intentions, which is not allowed according to previous opinions expressed by Sheppard and Pill, yet Sheppard is a party to this activity. Of course Mayor Higgins and the BPW are free to conduct informational meetings concerning the landfill proposal, but why include members of the council in their deliberations?
Moreover, Mayor Higgins has not responded to the Paradise City Forum’s request for her involvement in a potential independent forum of this nature or to the request by the PCF to list this forum as a public meeting.
