HopNews
On Friday, June 16, HopNews parent company Arch Publishing received a demand letter from lawyers representing the Hopkinton Housing Authority.
In the letter, Attorney John Tocci alleged that HopNews dispatched “three young reporters to a public HHA meeting” and failed to announce to the chair, Nancy Drawe, that they intended to record the meeting. This violated M.G.L. c. 30A, which “requires any person wishing to record a public meeting in Massachusetts to first inform the chair.” They demanded we remove and destroy the recording.
>> RELATED: READ THE DEMAND LETTER
Attorney Tocci is correct. I did ask my son, daughter and their friend to cover the HHA meeting as I was double-booked that evening. My instructions to them were to “take detailed notes”. All three of them graduated from HHS this year and all have an interest in studying civics and public policy. My two are attending Holy Cross in the fall and their friend is attending Fairfield College – we’re very proud of them!
I’ll confess that I was not aware of the specific language of MGL 30A, nor did I instruct my Junior Reporters to read up on the MGL before the meeting. My daughter made no secret of the recording; she held her phone up for the entire 52 painful minutes of it.
The MGL statute continues: “At the beginning of the meeting, the chair shall inform other attendees of any recordings.”
Having attended dozens of public meetings in Hopkinton, and many more on Zoom, I cannot recall ever hearing the chair announce that the meeting was being recorded, even when they’re at HCAM studios, as the School Committee meetings are. I spot checked a few recent meetings to verify, and I encourage you to listen for yourself here, here, and here. Outside of the Select Board, which reads a specific script at the outset of meetings, it is simply not a practice in this town, despite the law.
A closer read of the statute indicates that there is no remedy or penalty contemplated for a violation of this law, either for failing to notify the chair of the recording or failing to announce to attendees that the meeting will be recorded.
So what was the point? To intimidate, of course. I conservatively estimate this letter cost $1,000 to produce – 1 hour to research and 1 hour to write, at a bill rate of $500, which is reasonable given Mr. Tocci’s experience.
I spoke with a board member of the HHA this morning at the Timlin race who was blindsided by this news. They had no knowledge of it. This leads me to wonder: Who at the Housing Authority authorized this expenditure? More to the point, as a Hopkinton resident, why are my tax dollars being used to intimidate me and my family when a simple email or phone call would have been sufficient? Or how about saying nothing at all? It was a public meeting, after all.
But we cannot expect better from Ms. Drawe and Ms. Hayes. Their past behavior is the only reliable indication of their future choices. Ms. Drawe was offended because we exposed the criminal record of her “good friend” who she encouraged and endorsed for School Committee. Ms. Hayes is offended because … well, you probably know by now. It is no wonder voters are seeking to recall her.
We have removed the audio recordings from the article in question, and will be sure to comply with the statute in the future. We have notified our staff as well.
Going after me is one thing. I expected it, given the controversy our reporting has created recently. But going after my kids crosses a line.
Peter Thomas is the Editor in-Chief at HopNews.
** this article has been corrected to remove the June 17, 2023 Select Board meeting. Mr. Nasrullah did in fact notify attendees that the meeting was being recorded.
These people A L L of them are despicable human beings. I too want to know who authorized the taxpayer dollars to hire a lawyer to go chase and intimidate kids. If it was not properly authorized then there must be consequences.
These monsters. How dare they? NFC!!!….Don’t know that one? I’ll give you 2 NO and CLASS
What scum we have entrenched in AND leading our community.
I hope this is the final straw that breaks the collective back of the Hopkinton electorate.
I don’t know how much more the people will tolerate. Will they wait for their kids to be harassed and intimidated by these bullies? Enough must FINALLY be enough!! Btw, the third kid was my son Luke. If anyone has any problems with him please stop by 121 Pond St anytime to ‘chat’ about it.
Wasn’t this a public meeting anyways? I’d agree that an email or phone call would have done it. It’s a great question though about the prudent use of public funds or lack thereof in this case. Especially seeing as Darlene denounced spending funds on legal action during a conversation with me (via one of her pseudonyms in the comments section): “You are obviously Ashley’s friend, that’s nice but condoning lack of transparency with direct questions from parents and school leadership is not a good characteristic for a school committee member or the continual behind the scenes threats to sue community members. The school budget is high enough, I don’t want any of it wasted on legal consultation over Ashley’s personal issues.”
So now it’s ok for the HHA board to use it’s budget on this?
Wow. They just keep giving you more leads to follow up on! I gotta admit you have me checking back in daily for the scoop. Good work exposing the rot in the house of cards!
I can’t help getting the feeling that there are some people in public office around here who don’t like having their actions scrutinized.
First of all, I’m shocked Darlene has not taken it upon herself to step down by now. That obviously says a lot about her as a person. Most people, given the situation, would have stepped down by now. Secondly, I don’t know what benefit HHA feels it will have to keep her on the board?! All it is doing is causing division and chaos. I think many (most, if we are being honest) of Hopkinton residents are saying they don’t want somebody who has the capability to do the things that she did serving on a town board/committee. Given the situation, I believe that’s a more than reasonable request! This isn’t the type of situation where you can just say “everyone makes mistakes…” Ummm,ok… Yes, people do make mistakes, and hopefully they learn from them, but there has to be some form of consequence for a mistake of this magnitude. Not saying to berate or crucify Darlene, obviously, but, good grief, they can’t just let it go and brush it under the rug. The consequence should be you no longer get to be on the board/committee. Simple as that. I’m just shocked they are allowing her to continue. Time to start over with a clean slate on all these boards and committees that she has served on or still is serving on. Ridiculous that this had even become an issue. Time to move forward with people that Hopkinton residents feel they can trust. This isn’t about “punishing” anyone or trying to make their life more miserable, it’s just simply doing what’s right. It’s pretty cut and dry.
I know for certain that housing authorities will lie and threaten tenants so they will “shut up”. This is common knowledge and could be verified by MA Union of Public HousingTenants
I’ve had quite the experience with worcester housing!
Liz – yes! A voice of Reason. That is what we want. Darlene, please step off all anything Town-affiliated – Boards, Committees, whatever else. Your behaviour and actions have stained the integrity of everything you have been part of. The credibility of anything you are involved in is questionable at best. Your friends might be telling you everything will be alright, but it won’t be. You crossed a line and there are now a lot of formerly silent people who are not going to stop until you resign from every town-affiliated organization.
You can choose to do so gracefully or not. You apparently have “poked the bear” that is the silent minority. Do yourself a favor and just go away.
How was rhe decision made by HHA to consult counsel? Was there a meeting posted and held to discuss and vote on it? Since not all members were apparently aware, could this possibly be a violation of Open Meeting Laws?
Thank you for continuing to report. I am sorry that your children have been dragged in to it, but sadly not surprised because they have done it before. I hope someone is going to look in to the misuse of town funds to continue to protect an individual who at this point should have just removed herself from any and all public seats and offices she may hold.
Retaliates??? The Board did not retaliate…it notified you that what was done at that meeting was a violation. As for the statement that it cost $1,000 to send out the notification, that is only speculation on your part. There were no funds taken out of our town’s budget. The Housing Authority gets its funds from the state from the Housing and Community Development. Ms. Drawe has been nothing but professional in her leadership of the Housing Authority. She and the other volunteers spend many hours dealing with a host of issues that have to do with our seniors in our community.
So the fact that it is state money (still a public source) makes this situation more tolerable? How? Instead of playing gotcha, the chair should have asked the journalists to identify themselves and inquired about the recording. That would have saved any expenditure.
Drew, Hyes and Stephenson all should resign. They are not worth of public trust.
Thank you for bringing this incident to light. Hopnews has done a tremendous job of late with it’s investigative reporting. Intimidation techniques should never be tolerated, especially toward kids, but this group seems to have no bounds. And why do we have parties in town politics anyway? The aggressive divisiveness of pushing a one sided political agenda has no place in Hopkinton. The town and politics should be all about continuing to make this town a great place for kids to grow up and for people to work in harmony to make the town a great place to live for the long haul.
Thank you for your investigative journalism and bringing the recent incidents to light. Intimidation of curious young people is unacceptable. This group is building quite a track record of intimidation in this town toward anyone that exhibits any non-conformance with their political agenda. It’s disappointing to see divisive national political agendas enter town politics the way it has in the last several years. Town governance shouldn’t even have party affiliation in my opinion. It should be all about making the town a great place to grow up and making the town a better and better place to live in harmony as a community.
When you don’t like the message, then attack the messenger. And his kids. Nice. And all for what? For doing some quality investigative journalism?