NEWBURYPORT — Earlier this week, a City Council subcommittee held a meeting to finalize recommendations on much-debated rules surrounding the location of wind turbines.
In a lightly attended meeting, they did just that.
On Monday, however, they have to do it all over again. The culprit? A locked door.
Although the meeting began at 7 p.m., a police officer came into City Hall shortly after 8 p.m. to alert members of the Planning and Development subcommittee that some citizens had been coming into the station to question if the meeting were happening and to report that City Hall was locked.
The door was immediately unlocked by City Council President James Shanley, who was among those in attendance.
Though the meeting continued, the subcommittee had unintentionally violated the state's Open Meeting Law, meaning the meeting will have to be held again.
Ward 4 Councilor Ed Cameron, chairman of the committee, said last week that the door had been propped open with a wedge, allowing for committee members and some citizens to get in. Somehow, the door was then shut.
"It had never been unlocked," he said.
Since the door was locked and citizens couldn't get into the public meeting for an hour, it does violate the state's Open Meeting Law, which governs city boards and committees and requires that all meetings of public business be held in open session in a place where people can get to and have access.
The committee had voted to recommend certain changes to the wind turbine ordinance to the full City Council during its meeting on Monday.
The City Council Planning and Development subcommittee will meet again this coming Monday at 6:45 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers in an effort to approve the recommendations before the council meeting begins at 7.
