Hampshire Superior Court Justice Cornelius J. Moriarty ruled last month that correspondence between former Northampton economic development director Teri Anderson and the Three County Redevelopment Corporation were not exempt from public records laws.
As the Valley Advocate reported last fall (“Looking for a Fair Fight,” October 13, 2011 and “Tymoczko Still Not Satisfied,” November 10, 2011), former Northampton city councilor Maria Tymoczko sued the city, seeking the release of records regarding the city’s involvement with the fairgrounds redevelopment.
Property Tymoczko owns abuts the fairgrounds. In 2010, she alerted the city to design flaws in the drainage mitigation system that she says would threaten neighboring properties. After a review substantiated her concerns, the project stalled pending a new drainage plan.
After initially refusing to release any correspondence, Anderson sent Tymoczko a selection of emails, withholding supporting documents in many cases. Anderson, represented by City Solicitor Elaine Real, had argued that certain documents were sensitive to the Fairgrounds Redevelopment Board, a private corporation, and needed to be kept confidential.
Judge Moriarty disagreed.
In allowing Tymoczko’s motion, he wrote, “That the Redevelopment Board is a private organization not subject to mandatory disclosure of records by the Public Records Law does not preclude Tymoczko from inspecting the requested records.” Moriarty added that “the records sought are public records, and are not the property of the Redevelopment Board… Having joined the board by virtue of her public position, Anderson sent, received and created records for the Three County Fairground project also by virtue of her public office… Anderson is a public employee, carrying out a public purpose or function within a private organization and documents that are in her possession as a result may be deemed public records.”
In November, following coverage of Tymoczko’s records request in the Advocate, then-acting mayor David Narkewicz removed Anderson from the fairgrounds redevelopment board. (In December, Anderson announced her decision to resign from her city job, effective mid-January.)
In a recent interview, Tymoczko said she looked forward to getting a clearer picture of the city’s plans for the fairgrounds. She also reiterated that she and other abutters don’t oppose fairgrounds redevelopment generally: “I have consistently said [we] are very much in favor of rehabbing the fairgrounds, but not at the expense of the neighborhood.”
