Trainer warns Harwich boards: social media and texts can create open meeting and public‑records risks

Michelle Randazzo told attendees that social media and informal electronic exchanges have become a frequent source of open meeting law complaints. She advised that "if you post something and that conveys an opinion or a perspective, viewpoint... if you share them with, you know, a quorum of your board, then that may be considered a deliberation on the open meeting."

Randazzo recommended creating a dedicated project page on the town website for complex or controversial items so factual materials and updates are preserved in a single official location rather than dispersed in social posts. On texts and emails she said, "It is the content that matters. It is not the form," and urged preserving substantive messages about town business and forwarding them to staff for retention and production in public‑records responses.