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01/06/2014 Kenneth J.

Block 8 Atlantic Crossing Barrington, RI 02806 Lisa Pinsonneault, Esquire Special Assistant Attorney General Department of Attorney General 150 South Main Street Providence, RI 02903 Dear Ms. Pinsonneault: I am writing to file an Open Meetings Act (OMA) complaint against the Rhode Island State Properties Committee (Committee). I believe that the Committee committed five separate violations of the OMA relating to the filing of meeting minutes for Committee meetings held but not publicly documented. Missing or Late Filing of Minutes The Committee has failed to file meeting minutes for the following publicly noticed Committee meetings: August 13, 2013, September 26, 2013, November 5, 2013 and November 19, 2013. Also, the Committee filed minutes for the October 8, 2013 meeting outside of the 35 day reporting window mandated by OMA. As of today (January 6, 2014), the Secretary of States website indicates that there are no minutes on file for the 4 missing meeting notices indicated above. The Board is required to file a copy of the minutes of all open meetings with the Secretary of State for inspection by the public within thirty-five (35) days of the meeting. See R.I. Gen. Laws 42-46-7(d). The thirty-five day period has expired for each of the 4 meetings. The relevant language from 42-46-7(d) states: (d) All public bodies within the executive branch of the state government and all state public and quasi-public boards, agencies and corporations, and those public bodies set forth in subdivision (b)(2), shall keep official and/or approved minutes of all meetings of the body and shall file a copy of the minutes of all open meetings with the secretary of state for inspection by the public within thirty-five (35) days of the meeting; provided that this subsection shall not apply to public bodies whose responsibilities are solely advisory in nature. For the October 8, 2013 meeting, the meeting minutes were posted to the Secretary of State website on December 13, 2013, well beyond the 35 day reporting window mandated by OMA. Although the following meetings have now occurred outside of the 6 month statute of limitations for OMA complaints, to show a pattern of continuing violations of OMA I want to note that this

Committee also did not file meeting minutes for the following 6 meeting dates: July 02, 2013, May 21, 2013, March 26, 2013, March 12, 2013, February 26, 2013 and February 12, 2013. Aggrieved I am aggrieved because I have been thwarted in my desire to research attendance of certain Committee members at Committee meetings. This information is available via meeting minutes, which are missing for the above indicated meetings. I am also aggrieved by the missing minutes because I now have no way of monitoring what business was conducted at these meetings that I could not attend. Beyond my personal aggrievement, this Committee is exhibiting a chronic behavior of not filing required meeting minutes, denying the public its right to be able to learn what this board is doing and who is making the decisions. Per my count of noticed meetings on the Secretary of States website, in the last 6 months this Committee has held 11 publicly noticed meetings that are now beyond the 35 day reporting window for meeting minutes, and missed filing deadlines for minutes on 5 of those meetings. Prior Findings The RI Attorney Generals office found that the Rhode Island Board of Elections violated OMA by failing to file meeting minutes in a very similar situation in a complaint that I brought against the Board of Elections, which your office calls Block v. Board of Elections OM-25. In this finding, your office wrote: []the Board was nonetheless required to post official and/or approved minutes on the Secretary of States website in accordance with R.I. General Laws 42-46-7(d). No evidence has been presented that this has been accomplished. The Boards failure to comply with R.I. General Laws 42-46-7(d) violated the OMA. Conclusion Given the stark facts of this case and the clear guidance provided by OM-25, I ask that the Rhode Island Attorney Generals Office find the State Properties Committee in violation of Rhode Islands Open Meeting Laws. Also, given the repetitive nature of these violations, I also ask that the Rhode Island Attorney Generals Office assess a $1,000 fine for each violation of the OMA committed by this Committee. I find it personally outrageous that a Committee involved with making decisions that involve spending a great deal of taxpayer money is not rigorously documenting its decisions and decision making process. Transparency in government is crucial, and this Committee is not operating in a transparent manner. Sincerely,

Kenneth J. Block

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