07/09/2003 ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS Decisions

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r` Patricia Gail Barnes " ' i,L E'„i • 12 Par Three Court Mashpee,MA 02649 Vii{ ` 2 j PMZ u (508)477-5247 August 27, 2003 Town Selectmen Town of Mashpee Town Hall Mashpee, MA 02649 Re: Zoning Board of Appeals—Minutes of July 9,2003 Gentlemen: I appeared at a meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals on July 9, 2003, along with several other Southport residents, and expressed our concern about the way the Zoning Board of Appeals conducted Town business, in violation of the Open Meeting Law G.L. c. 39 ss 23A, 23B, 23C — specifically as the Board's business relates to Southport's development, which was discussed at the Board's June 25, 2003 meeting. • At that July 9 meeting, I presented a written request that the Board's secretary submit the tapes of both the June 25 and July 9 meetings to the Town Clerk's office for safe keeping (copy attached). Last week I inquired of the Town Clerk's office if the tapes were there and was informed they were not. I left a telephone message for the Board's secretary that day and she delivered the July 9, 2003 tape to the Clerk's office the next morning. She indicated that she erases over the tapes of the minutes of meeting and that is what happened with the meeting of June 25, 2003! On August 25th I listened to the July 9 tape and couldn't find any information relating to the meeting of July 9! Based on the discussions in the tape, it related to the minutes of the ZBA meeting of April 9, 2003! I was given the wrong tape! Plus, if the minutes of meetings are erased after the meetings, how did the tape of April 9, 2003 manage to survive? The reality is that we have no tape-recorded minutes of the meetings of June 25, 2003 and July 9, 2003 and must rely only on the secretary's perception of events and the Board approving the same. To compound our concerns is the fact that a letter from the building inspector dated August 13, 2003 (copy attached) specifically states "On July 9, 2003 the Zoning Board of Appeals members made the motion that aA/any changes made to the Original Special Permit shall require a full-advertised public hearing. " I am outraged to • discover that there is no mention whatsoever that this motion appears in the