Attorney Michelle Randazzo trains Harwich board members on open meeting law and practical meeting rules

Michelle Randazzo, an attorney with KP Law, told Harwich board and committee members the training’s purpose is to “refamiliarize” volunteers with the open meeting law and newer enforcement dynamics. She noted the public‑complaint process that allows "anybody, whether they're a resident of Harwich or not, to bring an open meeting law complaint," and said that change in practice matters for long‑serving members.

Randazzo covered practical meeting management—how to set agendas, manage remote participation and public comment, and maintain minutes. She urged boards to adopt clear, consistent procedures for remote attendance and public comment, and recommended that complex projects have dedicated pages on town websites so factual materials are preserved in one place rather than scattered across social posts. “If you want it for community engagement, then when someone gets on and starts calling you a bum, you can't kick them off,” she said while urging content‑neutral time/place/manner rules for speakers.

The presentation emphasized records and retention: substantive town business in email, texts or social posts should be preserved and forwarded to staff, while short transitory messages (for example, "running late") may be treated as temporary. Randazzo also reminded chairs that votes involving remote members must be taken by roll call and that meeting minutes should identify who was present. She closed by offering to answer follow‑up questions and by noting that the session recording and materials will be sent to attendees.