Word: ralph
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Ralph claims that this raise and other personnel decisions were signed into law in private meetings between Danehy and McLaughlin, not in open session as prescribed by law. He has brought a suit against his fellow commissioners for violating the state's Open Meeting Law, which forbids members of policy-making boards at the state, county or local level to discuss public business anywhere other than at a public meeting...
Though McLaughlin and Danehy protest that they uphold the Open Meeting Law to the point of avoiding even social contact outside the courthouse, Ralph's suit accuses them of holding private business meetings before rubber-stamping their decisions in public. The minutes of the public sessions show that on seven occasions since McLaughlin joined the board, Ralph has arrived on time and waited as long as an hour for a second member to appear, before adjourning the meeting for lack of a quorum. In every instance, the other commissioners arrived soon after Ralph's own adjournment and held their...
...minutes also record Ralph as absent from 21 meetings since April, 1975 (as opposed to 12 absences for Danehy and eight for McLaughlin). Ralph claims that several of his unexplained absences were actually misrecorded cases of his adjourning the meeting before McLaughlin and Danehy arrived...
...minutes are frequently in error, Ralph asserts, because they are compiled by a member of McLaughlin's staff and subject to approval by a majority of the three-man board. Ralph has not signed the minutes for any meeting since July 1, 1975. "They never show me the minutes," he complains, adding that the other commissioners only permit him to see the weekly journal's last page, which is reserved for signatures. Predictably, McLaughlin denies this allegation...
...Ralph also argues that many of the hirings listed in the minutes were actually made by McLaughlin and Danehy outside the meetings. He could not cast an informed vote on these appointments anyway, he contends, since the other commissioners refuse to let him see personnel papers and resumes. Again, McLaughlin disputes Ralph's charges, insisting he signs personnel papers only during the meetings...