Did I err?

Last week I opined that the Woodstock Board of Fire and Police Commission had erred procedurally in suspending Officer Jim O'Doherty, because my recollection of the March 12th Special Meeting was that the Board had only stated its decision upon returning to open session, but had not voted in open session on a suspension.

Draft Minutes posted today on the Board's webpages indicate that they did vote on a Motion to suspend that was made during the public, open meeting after the Executive Session.

So maybe I did not recollect correctly. However, there is still a question in my mind, because I recall only the vote to adjourn. So I'll file a FOIA request to listen to the tape of the public portion of the meeting. And, if I can confirm that there was a vote on the suspension, I'll willingly withdraw my opinion and admit error.

Suspending a police officer is a serious matter.

On March 2 the BOFPC met in Executive Session for nine minutes to consider the suspension. I believe that Officer O'Doherty was not informed of the Agenda item, and he did not attend to speak on his own behalf.

On March 12 the BOFPC met in Executive Session for five (5) minutes. Again Officer O'Doherty was not present. Did he even know about the meeting?

At the March 12 Special Meeting the Board indicated that a hearing would be held today, March 23, "tentatively". Today is March 23. The BOFPC did not met.

A new Special Meeting has been posted on the BOFPC website for Monday, April 6, 5:00PM. Because the City does not state whose personnel matter is to be discussed in private, I'll speculate that the topic of the April 6th Special Meeting will be Officer O'Doherty.

And the place? Out in public. Finally. The BOFPC will meet at the City Council Chambers in City Hall. Anyone interested can attend without passing through a security door or being escorted to an interior conference room in a non-public area of a public building.

This is a huge step forward. Thank you to the City of Woodstock and the Police Department for creating a public meeting place for the City's Board of Fire and Police Commissioners.

It's nice to see a new line added to the Agenda for the April 6 Special Meeting. The new line reads, "Action on the matters discussed in executive session." This would be the Motion and Vote on action following a private personnel discussion.