It appears the PMLP Commission doesn’t want you to hear what they have to say. At last night’s monthly meeting, Commissioners Tom Paras and Ray Melvin had a temper tantrum that resulted in the meeting not being recorded.
At first, the usual microphones were absent from the desks. “Bring your own microphones,” was their command when Peabody TV volunteers eventually located the needed equipment and began unpacking the microphones regularly used for recording the meeting on video. “Use the microphone in the camera,” was another comment – along with Paras’ comment “we’re getting new microphones anyway.”

The mystery of the microphones played out at the meeting following dissmissive comments Paras made at the September meeting were heard on Peabody TV’s recording. When a member of the public raised her hand to participate in the public remark portion of the meeting, Paras was heard saying “Oh my god, I’ve got to get out of here….when is this thing going to end.”
Last night,

Paras left the room when asked if the microphone mayhem was related to his off-side remarks being heard at the last meeting. (Are they getting new microphones so it would be easier for commissioners to turn off their microphone?)

The Commission’s lack of transparency with the public and their preference to avoid community engagement is nothing new.

We got another hint at the Commission’s attitude when the paper agenda had an attached handout outlining the specifics of the Open Meeting Law & Remarks of the General Public. It states that to record a meeting the chair must be notified first. As evidenced by the monthly meeting having been routinely recorded and aired by Peabody TV for several months, the Commission was notified about PAT volunteers (who happen to also be BCNS volunteers) recording the meetings.

The Open Meeting handout lists the specific demands of the Commission regarding “remarks of the general public” which they deem “entirely optional and completely wthin the Chair’s discretion.” BCNS volunteers have routinely taken advantage of this one public opportunity to communicate directly with the Commission. (It’s ironic that the Attorney General upheld our complaint and found the Commission in violation of the law regarding the posting of last year’s public/budget meeting.)

The unfortunate result of the sophomoric games the Commission played on October 27 is that the public will have to wait until after their December 15 meeting to learn what happened at last night’s meeting. The minutes of the meeting are routinely taken “by hand” and not available until the Commission votes to release the minutes at a future meeting.

BCNS was interested to hear the details of:
– the future of the Unit 1 peaker generator at the Waters River Plant, specfically regarding the ISO-New England De-list bid
– information on the new “PP & FCA” price increases implemented by the Commission
– PMLP’s holiday party plans (last year they appropriated $5000 for the event)
– We were hoping to learn when the PMLP FY23 budget will be discussed and when the public hearing on the budget is planned.

Another example of the Commission’s lack of transparency is that in more than a year of attending and reporting on the commission’s meetings, minutes of Executive Session have never been released. At our insistence, PMLP has remedied their previous omission regarding posting the minutes of previous monthly meetings. We have not yet pursued the release of minutes of executive sessions, which are held out of the public eye in order to protect trade secrets. Any confidential information could be redacted from the minutes.

Yesterday started out with the great news that the Salem City Council issued a resolution to stop the Peabody Peaker project. I mistakenly thought that the malevolent spirits of the season were aligned with us. Witchcraft had nothing to do with the microphone mayhem – that was the work of the men on the Commission.