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Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 17:48:22 -0400
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From: "James M. Atkinson" <jm..._at_tscm.com>
Subject: Please Keep You Snickering to a Minimum
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http://www.woonsocketcall.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18262780&BRD=1712&PAG=461&dept_id=24361&rfi=6
Errant listening aid sparks fears of executive session eavesdropping
JOSEPH FITZGERALD, Staff Writer
04/26/2007
BURRILLVILLE -- Town Councilman Kevin M. Blais may have compromised
the confidentiality of a March 28 executive session of the Town
Council when he left an assisted-listening device he uses to help him
hear better at council meetings unattended in his car that night.
At least, that's the concern voiced by Town Manager Michael C. Wood
and a majority of Blais' colleagues on the council. The incident has
apparently warranted enough concern that the council Wednesday voted
6-1 to notify the attorney general's office of "a possible/potential
compromise" of the executive session in question.
Blais, elected to the council in November,uses the town-owned
wireless assisted listening device (a headset and reciever) at
council meetings because he is hearing impaired. The device is one of
six that was purchased by the town in large part to accommodate Blais.
The executive session in question took place after the council's
regular meeting on March 28. During the regular meeting, Blais says
he excused himself due to illness, walked outside to take a blood
pressure pill and a drink of water and then sat in his car for about
30 minutes before he felt well enough to rejoin the meeting.
Before he went back into the building, he says, he mistakenly left
the listening device on the seat of his car, which he later said was
locked and secured.
Blais participated in the rest of the regular meeting session, which
was just ending, as well as the executive session that followed. At
the end of the executive session, Blais said, he told Town Clerk
Louise Phaneuf that he had left the device in the car and was told by
Phaneuf that he could bring it back at his convenience.
Wood addressed the matter of the potential breach of confidentiality
at the council's meeting April 11. In a memorandum to the panel, Wood
said, "The listening device has a fairly long range and if someone
had the device in their possession they could have listened to the
meeting outside of the meeting room and within a reasonable distance
of Town Hall."
Said Wood: "Anyone who had the device in their possession could have
been listening to the regular meeting and/or executive session
outside of the meeting room. It's very possible that the integrity of
future executive sessions is compromised going forward."
Blais called the veiled suggestion that he intentionally left the
assisted listening device in his car so someone could monitor the
executive session "outrageous."
"No one said anything to me that night and no one contacted me to ask
where the unit was, which was under lock and key and under control,"
Blais said. "This is foolishness and exactly the kind of thing I was
expecting when I was elected. This is just another effort to get me wound up."
Blais has been involved in a longstanding public feud with Wood over
the years on various issues, and members of the council have accused
Blais of trying to undermine and criticize the council's efforts at every step.
Blais Wednesday night questioned Phaneuf about the location and
secuirty of the five other listening devices, which she said were
kept secured in her office.
"Do we always have an accounting of where these devices are during
executive sessions?" Blais asked.
Town Councilman John M. Karmozyn proposed bringing the incident to
the attention of the attorney general's office at the April 11
meeeting, but the council was unable to vote on the matter because it
was not an item on the agenda that night.
Karmozyn made the motion Wednesday night, saying it was merely to
"protect" the council against any future or past compromises related
to executive sessions. "This is not to imply there was any wrongdoing
by any individual," he said.
Blais said he already contacted Adam J. Sholes, special assistant
attorney general, about the incident. "He called it ludicrous and
that based on the facts as he understands it there is no violation of
anything whatsoever," he said.
In a April 18 response to Wood's memorandum, Blais wrote: "As an
individual with a disability, I often find myself at a disadvantage.
This is only further complicated when individuals make careless and
unfounded accusations as Mr. Wood did in his April 4, 2007, memo."
"As I had indicated during the April 4 meeting, the wireless device
used could compromise the integrity of executive session by virtue of
its design and operating frequency," said Blais, adding that anyone
with a scanner could potentially pickup the frequency.
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