Devitt v. Heimbach

109 Misc. 2d 463, 440 N.Y.S.2d 465, 1981 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2413
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedMay 28, 1981
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 109 Misc. 2d 463 (Devitt v. Heimbach) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Devitt v. Heimbach, 109 Misc. 2d 463, 440 N.Y.S.2d 465, 1981 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2413 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1981).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Irving A. Green, J.

This is a petition pursuant to CPLR article 78, brought by F. Edward Devitt, a resident of the Town of Montgomery, New York, and a duly elected legislator from the 18th District to the Orange County Legislature. The petition seeks to annul an action of the Orange County Legislature taken on April 10, 1981, consisting of the passage of Resolution No. 25 which authorized the County Executive of Orange County to enter into a contract of sale on the terms and conditions set forth in a contract of sale filed with the clerk of the legislature relating to a portion of certain premises known as Glenmere, located in the Towns of Chester and Warwick, Orange County, New York. The petition further seeks to prohibit the Orange County Executive from acting in furtherance of that resolution.

Subsequent to the commencement of this petition by order to show cause, a contract was executed by the Orange County Executive and a private purchaser for Glenmere, and was, however, made subject to the judgment of this court to be entered in this proceeding.

The petitioner contends that (1) the consideration and adoption of Resolution No. 25 of 1981 by the Orange County Legislature for the sale of Glenmere was made in violation of article 7 of the Public Officers Law known as the “Open Meetings Law” and in violation of the proper and lawful internal procedures of the Orange County Legislature itself; (2) that the property having been acquired for public purposes could not be disposed of without a prior determination it was no longer needed for public purposes; (3) that the property was not advertised for sale; (4) and that the sale is in violation of article 8 of the Environmental Conservation Law and the regulations promulgated pursuant thereto.

Respondents assert a cross motion seeking, inter alia, to dismiss the petition for failure to state a cause of action and for summary judgment in respondents’ favor.

[465]*465THE OPEN MEETINGS LAW

It is contended by petitioner that Resolution No. 25 of 1981, which authorized the private sale of Glenmere, was placed on the Orange County legislative agenda after the legislative session conducted on April 10, 1981, had commenced. After the resolution was introduced and placed on the agenda, an attempt was made by motion by a member of the legislature to adjourn consideration of Resolution No. 25 to a date to be fixed by the chairman of the legislature. Another motion was then made to go into closed executive session, and upon a roll call vote an executive session was declared and conducted. After the conclusion of the executive session, the motion to adjourn was defeated 16 to 5 and Resolution No. 25 of 1981 was approved by a majority of the Orange County Legislature. It is not disputed that petitioner was present during all of these proceedings and participated in the executive session.

The Open Meetings Law (Public Officers Law, art 7) was enacted to facilitate the awareness by the public of government processes and enable the public to be fully aware of and observe the performance of public officials. (Public Officers Law, § 95.) The law also provides that an executive session, meaning that portion of a meeting not open to the general public, may be called at the meeting of a public body. (Public Officers Law, §§ 97, 98.) However, the right to declare an executive session is not an unfettered right. A public body may conduct an executive session for certain purposes only enumerated by statute. (Public Officers Law, § 100.) The only purpose contained in the statute permitting the conducting of an executive session, which *is relevant to these proceedings, is for a “proposed *** sale of * * * real property * * * held by such public body, but only when publicity would substantially affect the Value thereof”. (Public Officers Law, § 100, subd 1, par h.) Therefore, before this executive session could properly be called, it must first be shown that publicity would substantially affect the value of the property. (Matter of Oneonta Star Div. of Ottaway Newspapers v Board of Trustees of Oneonta School Dist., 66 AD2d 51, 54.) The proofs submitted upon the petition and cross motion by respondents do not clearly [466]*466demonstrate that publicity would have substantially affected the value of the property. However, such failure of proof in that regard is not necessarily fatal to the viability and legality of the Orange County Legislature’s actions taken on April 10, 1981, in the passage of Resolution No. 25.

The New York State Legislature has declared in enacting article 7 of the Public Officers Law that the court shall have the power, in its discretion, upon good cause shown, (emphasis added), to declare any action or part thereof taken in violation of this article void in whole or in part. (Public Officers Law, § 102.) The Court of Appeals has held that inclusion by the State Legislature of this language vesting in the courts the discretion to grant remedial relief makes it abundantly clear that not every breach of the “Open Meetings Law” automatically triggers its enforcement sanction and it is petitioner’s burden to prove good cause exists to invoke the granting of judicial relief. (Matter of New York Univ. v Whalen, 46 NY2d 734.) Petitioner was present during the open and closed legislative sessions conducted on April 10,1981, and in his petition, petitioner avers that the total time spent in executive session was about 30 minutes.

Petitioner has not met his burden of proof that good cause exists for this court to implement any sanctions pursuant to article 7 of the Public Officers Law merely because on April 10, 1981, a 30-minute executive session was conducted prior to the adoption by majority vote of the legislature in open session of a resolution authorizing the sale of county-owned property pursuant to a local law on the books since July 13, 1979 (Local Law No. 11 of 1979). Neither is sufficient proof presented herein as would lead the court to find that informal private meetings, improper under the “Open Meetings Law”, occurred to such an extent, if at all, as to place the validity of the legislative process in question. (Cf. Matter of Orange County Pub., Div. of Ottaway Newspapers v Council of City of Newburgh, 60 AD2d 409, 416, affd 45 NY2d 947.)

THE INTERNAL PROCEDURES OF THE ORANGE COUNTY LEGISLATURE

Petitioner complains that Resolution No. 25 was [467]*467placed on the legislative agenda for April 10, 1981, after the legislative session commenced. Petitioner complains, among other things, that no appraisal was provided as to the market value of the Glenmere property to be sold or what the property to be sold consisted of in terms of the amount of acreage, improvements, and lake rights. While all of petitioner’s contentions may or may not raise questions as to the deliberative process, preparedness, or wisdom of the legislature in enacting Resolution No. 25, the issue before the court is whether such considerations are properly within the review jurisdiction of this court.

The placing of items upon the Orange County Legislature’s agenda, when and how they are ■ placed there, and whether a certain proposal will or will not go to a committee before voted on by the full body of the legislature are within the exclusive prerogative of the legislature to determine.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
109 Misc. 2d 463, 440 N.Y.S.2d 465, 1981 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2413, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/devitt-v-heimbach-nysupct-1981.