AMHERST — Amherst Town Council is denying that it violated the state’s Open Meeting Law when voting to support a resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war on March 4.

At a special session lasting less than 15 minutes Wednesday evening, councilors voted unanimously that they didn’t violate the Open Meeting Law during the last 45 minutes of a five-hour meeting earlier this month. The vote allows town attorney KP Law to formally respond to the separate complaints filed by residents Lonna Steinberg and Mike Offner.

Steinberg and Offner, who declined comment on the council vote Wednesday, had asked that the vote at the end of the March 4 meeting be null and void because Council President Lynn Griesemer had adjourned it 45 minutes earlier, that the meeting be voided due to people speaking without permission of the president and that an apology be issued to the community for the conduct of spectators, which included shouts from the audience observing the proceedings at the middle school auditorium.

The Town Council used a six-page memo from town attorney Lauren Goldberg at KP Law as the basis of its response decision. Goldberg viewed a recording from Amherst Media and examined the draft minutes of the session prepared by Council Clerk Athena O’Keeffe, as well as reviewing previous attorney general’s office decisions on similar Open Meeting Law complaints.

In a summary, Goldberg wrote, “the Town Council did not violate the Open Meeting Law when the Council President indicated during moments of chaos that the meeting was ‘adjourned’ where all the Councilors stayed in their seats, most, if not all, of those in attendance stayed in the auditorium, the Zoom and cable television broadcast of the meeting continued, and both the public and the Council continued with the meeting.”

While Goldberg acknowledges the “boisterous” behavior by observers, she provided several examples of decisions made by the Attorney General’s Division of Open Government indicating that adjournment pronouncements made by presiding officers often don’t go into effect because elected officials and the audience stay put. When violations are found by the state office, they usually are the result of a meeting being adjourned and then reconvened, with the audience absent and recording of proceedings stopping.

The resolution brought forward by Amherst4Ceasefire and sponsored by three councilors was adopted after appearing to have been pulled when amendments were initially added that appeared to limit criticism of Israel for its role in the conflict. Those amendments were later removed.

On Wednesday, councilors had few comments, with At Large Councilor Mandi Jo Hanneke summarizing what Goldberg wrote.

“From KP Law’s memo, it seems clear to me that we didn’t violate it, based on prior actions and determinations of Open Meeting Law issues that were provided in that and the actions of the council and the public that night,” Hanneke said.

There was no opportunity for the public comment to Wednesday, and Griesemer started the meeting by noting that there would only be a response to the complaints.

“We are not here to discuss or revote the resolution,” Griesemer said. “This meeting is not a redo of the March 4 meeting.”

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.