Ho hum, we see that public records were indeed destroyed by Northampton's clerk of the city council, apparently at the behest of Northampton's former city solicitor Janet Sheppard or at least with her knowledge. In a moment that could be classified as Rumsfeldian, Sheppard resigned under a cloud of suspicion. For some of us this behavior is not news however.
To refresh the record for newer Redoubt visitors check out Northampton Redoubt/Smith College for a breakdown of the Educational Use Overlay District process as seen from the perspective of petitioners. Provided there is my affidavit from about three years ago concerning the behavior of the former solicitor and her role in disallowing a citizens' petition. There is also a map of the overlay district revealing the numerous properties the city disqualified thereby defeating the petition. Had the petition been accepted approval of the district would have required a 3/4's vote of the city council rather than a 2/3's vote under MGL Chapter 40A, Section 5. Ward 2 Councilor Paul Spector and Ward 5 Councilor Dave Murphy had recused themselves from the process citing conflicts of interest. Spector is a paid Smith consultant and Murphy owns property in the area. As a result of their self-removal all seven remaining councilors would have needed to vote in favor of the district in order for it to become law. Then City Council President Michael Bardsely indicated publicly his reservations regarding the policy so there was a real possibility that ordinary citizens could have forced a do-over of the entire EU process. Sheppard and other city staffers made certain that was not to be.
I consulted Bob Ritchie of the state Attorney General's office and he indicated our only recourse was to sue the city. Despite having several thousand dollars in pledges for a lawsuit, we decided not to pursue that course of action, to our discredit perhaps. On the other hand we're probably all aware of the metaphor regarding giving someone enough rope to hang themselves.
For perhaps the first time during her reign Higgins seems off balance. Entangled in a re-election campaign the mayor is struggling to put the public records fiasco in her rear view mirror through a dubious re-do of a past City Council executive session from May 21. With increasing frequency we find ourselves closely scrutinizing city processes and policies, as Higgins continues to study what she is permitted to do, and how she can do it. Interpretation of laws is becoming ever more paramount with each passing day of her administration.
Moreover she has taken recently to providing office hours in city hall which could cynically be described as using city resources to campaign for mayor. That is a fine line and one can only wonder why it's taken nine years for Higgins to make herself more accessible to the public. The community would do well to take stock of her administration, from start to finish, and ask itself, is this how we want officials to conduct the peoples' business?
Despite the work of the committee on Best Practices and the Northampton Design Forum which were both spawned from a questionable Hilton Garden Inn Hotel permitting process, little seems to have changed regarding the approach to governing Higgins seems most comfortable with. She may well get re-elected but until she becomes genuine in her approach to deliberative democracy and allowing a diversity of opinions to prevail within her administration, her circle-the-wagons approach to government will be accompanied by growing fissures within the community. In my view the Higgins doctrine is pulling city residents apart rather than bringing them together. We should expect more from our elected leaders.
