NORTHAMPTON - A Hampshire Superior Court judge has ruled that the emails of Teri Anderson, the city's community and economic development director, involving her work as a Fairgrounds Redevelopment Corp. board member are public records and subject to inspection by private citizens.

The decision by Judge Cornelius J. Moriarty is the latest development in a public records battle between former Northampton city councilor Maria Tymoczko and the city that has dragged on for more than a year.

The city earlier claimed that many of the emails were exempt from public scrutiny because they are private records of the Fairgrounds Redevelopment Board as well as trade secrets, which is one of several exemptions in the Public Records Law.

Moriarty's ruling found those claims did not have merit largely because the records sought were in the custody of Anderson, a public employee carrying out a public purpose or function within a private organization.

"Having joined the board by virtue of her public position, Anderson sent, received and created records for the Three County Fairgrounds project also by virtue of her public office," Moriarty wrote. "That the Redevelopment Board is a private organization not subject to mandatory disclosure of records by the Public Records Law does not preclude Tymoczko from inspecting the requested records."

Tymoczko, who lives on Pomeroy Terrace and whose land abuts the fairgrounds property, last year filed lawsuits in state Land Court over aspects of the planned $36 million redevelopment of the Three-County Fairgrounds in the Meadows. She also filed an Oct. 26, 2010, public records request seeking emails stored on Anderson's computer at City Hall. Tymoczko said she sought the records to better understand the Fairgrounds Redevelopment Corp.'s decision-making for the redevelopment of the fairgrounds, including its stormwater drainage plans and the city's involvement.

"The real issue is, how does the city make decisions?" Tymoczko said this week. "To what extent is the public good a deciding factor? And does the city follow the law? I'm following this to the end."

Until October, Anderson had served as a city representative to the Fairgrounds Redevelopment Corp. board, though David J. Narkewicz, then acting mayor and now mayor-elect, removed her from the post, citing conflicts with having a public employee serve as a voting member of a private board.

"Having her be a member of that board is not appropriate," said Narkewicz. He said he wants the city's representatives to the board to be ex-officio or advisory members. The city's other appointment to the board is former Ward 3 city councilor Robert C. Reckman.

Anderson declined to comment on the case Tuesday and referred questions to city attorney Elaine Reall.

"I certainly think he (Moriarty) acted in good faith," Reall said of the ruling.

Reall said the city has made every effort to provide Tymoczko with the emails she sought, and said the city has no interest in appealing the ruling.

"This was an unfortunate situation created by a poorly constituted board," she said.

Earlier disclosures

Nearly a year after Tymoczko's initial public records request, the city on Aug. 31 turned over hundreds of Anderson's emails involving the redevelopment project in advance of Moriarty's ruling. However, Tymoczko and her attorney, Michael Pill, were aware that the city had not turned over all of the correspondence sought because there were leaked emails that were not in the documents the city turned over to them earlier. In addition, some of the emails released by the city had redactions, information Tymoczko also seeks to inspect.

Nearly two months later, in October, the city discovered 21 additional emails related to the redevelopment of the Three-County Fairgrounds that were missing among the hundreds of emails it turned over earlier. The emails surfaced after Narkewicz ordered the Management Information Systems department to conduct a comprehensive review of the city's computer archive backup system. At the time, Narkewicz said he was committed to upholding the Public Records Law and ensuring city residents have a city government that is "open, fair and accessible."

Moriarty ruled that Tymoczko requested access to records in Anderson's possession as a direct consequence of her public official status and that, "though Anderson may have been bound by a duty of confidentiality as a board member, no governmental promise of confidentiality was ever provided to the board in exchange for the disclosure of information."

Tymoczko said she finds the whole matter "extremely discouraging," and believes the city is still withholding Fairgrounds-related correspondence sent or received by Anderson, including board minutes and agendas.

"What's interesting now is hopefully we'll get the rest of the stuff," Pill said. "There's still more."

Said Reall, "If we can find anything else, it will be turned over. The city has no interest in holding anything back."

Dan Crowley can be reached at dcrowley@gazettenet.com.