OPMA suit filed against Montvale school board

I recently filed an Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) complaint against the Montvale Board of Education (Bergen County).

The verified complaint in the case, which is captioned Paff v. Montvale Board of Education, Docket No. BER-L-184-14, is on-line here and the exhibits to the complaint are on-line here.

The reason for my lawsuit is the Montvale Board's practice, which I first discovered in March 2012, of passing a single, blanket resolution at its January reorganization meeting that purports to authorize all of the nonpublic (i.e. closed or executive) meetings held during the ensuing year.  I contend that the OPMA requires public bodies to pass a separate resolution prior to each nonpublic meeting that provides the public with an idea of what topics will be privately discussed.

I complained to the Board about this practice in 2012 but Montvale continues its practice to this day.  Accordingly, I need to file a lawsuit to get the Board to respect the public's rights under the OPMA.