It is with curiosity I await the decision of the Northwestern District Attorney’s office regarding an Open Meeting Law complaint filed against Northampton City Councilors Gene Tacy and Angela Plassmann by Northampton Media for an alleged improper meeting by a quorum of Social Services and Veterans Affairs Committee members concerning marijuana fines. The meeting took place with Northampton’s Police Chief Russell Sienkiewicz on June 22 according to NM. There are a few things to consider with regards to this activity.
Information regarding how NM learned of the meeting is absent from the original article. It is not clear whether or not NM reporter David Reid just happened to be hanging around Police Headquarters on June 22 and noticed Tacy and Plassmann speaking with the Northampton Chief of Police and decided to follow up. That could be classified as good detective work albeit with a paparazzi-like twist. Is it possible someone with inside knowledge of the meeting notified NM of the alleged infraction anonymously? Could be. Either way the original article does not identify the initial impetus for the story.
Moreover, City Council President David Narkewicz has stated this matter falls outside the jurisdiction of the Social Services and Veterans Affairs Committee. He believes the marijuana fine issue is a matter for the city’s Public Safety Committee, which includes Plassmann but not Tacy. If as Narkewicz states the issue is outside the purview of the SSVA Committee and there is no formal proposal on the matter before any city committee as yet, where is the violation?
Clearly questions of jurisdiction and procedure should be settled on this topic before it goes further and Council President Narkewicz along with the D.A.’s office should clear the air on this so to speak. Read Narkewicz’s comments on jurisdiction at: https://valleyadvocate.com/blogs/home.cfm?aid=11429
For the record I do not support stiffer marijuana public consumption penalties at this time but I am open to considering it depending on what is learned from the public conversation-if that ever occurs.
