Loading...
23A-079 (27) December 7, 1979 Rogers, Alden, & Pacella, P.A. Attorneys at Law 73 State Street Springfield, Massachusetts 01103 Re: 41 Main Street, Florence, Massachusetts Dear Mr. Pacella: In reference to your letter of November 16, 1979, please be advised of the following: I have been expecting your call, requesting an appointment to come to this office to view our plans on the above. We do not have the facilities necessary to reproduce copies of plans, as in most instances the original mylars are needed for a clear print. However, our files are open for public viewing with the proper notification. Please call this office at 586-6950, Ext. 240 to make an appointment, and we will be pleased to assist you in any manner we can. Sincerely, Cecil I. Clark INSPECTOR OF BUILDINGS CIC/lp '.' J .' 'i I' . !i 4 • r' Cl•. • - T I. • 1 ROGERS, ALDEN & PACELLA, P.A. Attorney. at Law Arthur M. Rogers 73 State Street Doris F. Alden Springfield, Masaaehu.ette 01103 Jo.ePh A. Patella (413) 781-2470 David H. Rome November 16, 1979 Mayor Harry S. Chapman IV_. City of Northampton City Hall 1 7 Northampton, Massachusetts 01060 DEPT.OF BUILDING INSPECTIONS NORTHAMPTON, MA.01060 Dear Mayor Chapman: This office represents two residents of the City of Northampton, Mr. and Mrs. Erwin L. Brady of 12 Wilder Place. Our representa- tion concerns the building (prior to your administration) of a professional medical dental building at 41 Main Street , Florence, Massachusetts. It is our clients contention that this building was allowed to be built by the Building Inspector of Northamtpon, Mr. Cecil Clark, although it did not conform to several regula- tions of the Northampton Zoning By-laws in effect at that time. In furtherance of our representation of our cliextts, we made a demand on the Building Inspector of the City of Northampton to enforce the Zoning By-laws as they pertained to the subject prop- erty. Our demand was refused, and we took an appeal to the North- ampton Board of Appeals, which is now pending. In conjunction with that appeal Attorney Eric Gervais of the Board of Appeals requested that our office furnish eight (8) copies of a sketch plan of the subject property to the board to help them in their determination of our appeal . Although both Attorney Gervais and I agreed that this was not a requirement for my clients, nor should they be forced to incur additional expense in this regard, I did offer to obtain copies of any plans on record in the Build- ing Inspector ' s office, and at our expense duplicate them and fur- nish them to the Board of Appeals. On Thursday November 15th, 1979, I made a special trip to North- ampton to visit the Building Inspector ' s office and view the pub- lic documents on record with him with regard to this property. Thereafter if a plan was on record, we would have requested that the Building Inspector supply us with a copy. When my associate and I arrived at the Building Inspector ' s office, we were told by Ms . Linda Patryn that Mr. Clark was in court, and that his assist- ant Mr. Tewhill was out on several inspections, but would be re- turning shortly. We then asked her to please view the records concerning 41 Main Street, so that we could determine whether or r eE MC NOV 9 1979 NW ACPImniuc iuurerin, Mayor Harry S. Chapman -2- November 16, 1979 not an adequate plan had been filed. At that point Ms . Patryn asked my name, and when she heard that I was the attorney in regards to the appeal, she stated that she would not be able to show us anything without her boss ' s permis- sion. She stated that these were his orders, and despite the fact that I appraised her that these records were public, and that she was violating the law (M.G.L. C. 66 $10) , she refused to furnish the records to us. We then asked her if she could at least tell us whether or not a plan was on record in regards to 41 Main Street, and she even refused to furnish this information. I then came up to your of- fice at which time you were engaged in a meeting with Mayor-elect Musante, and your secretary who I might indicate was most helpful called Attorney Gervais to verify our purpose in being there. It is my understanding that your secretary was assured by Attorney Gervais that there was no harm in furnishing the plan allowing us to view the plan by the Building Department, since it was at his request that we were there. At that time your secretary called Ms. Patryn and advised her of this fact, and she was told that Ms. Patryn still refused to allow us to examine the public records. While I can appreciate that you are not responsible for the ig- norance of an employee, I certainly think the type of insubordin- ation shown by Ms. Patryn should be dealt with severely. Although I am aware, that her actions, could be reported to the District Attorney, or the Attorney General for Massachusetts for prosecution, I am not interested in doing so over such a small matter, however I am concerned that a city employee, on the city payroll, being paid by my clients taxes, and the taxes of several other clients and friends that I have in Northampton would refuse to allow a public record to be examined, and would do so in complete viola- tion of law, and as a complete act of insubordination to the Mayor ' s office that had assured her that this was alright . It is also especially upsetting, that she indicated that sha was doing this at her "boss ' s instruction" . This amounts to what ap- pears to me conspiracy not only to violate Massachusetts laws, but to violate several Federal Statutes including the Civil Rights Act and the Freedom of Information Act . It is especially amusing, when I have documented proof that this policy has never been carried out previously with regards to any other public citizen, but only came about when we requested to view documents in regards to this appeal of the Building Inspectors decision. Mayor Harry S. Chapman -3- November 16, 1979 I would expect that: your office would now undertake to repri- mand this employee for her ignorance and violation of law, and would see to it that either her or her superiors forward to our office a written apology for the inconvenience that they caused us. Upon receipt of the apology, we will consider the matter closed. It might also be noted, that we have this day forwarded a writ- ten request to Mr. Clark for the documents that we wanted to look at yesterday, and I would expect that he would be expedi- tious in his handling of our request based on yesterdays occur- rences. Thank you for your courtesy and cooperation in this matter. Yours very truly, ep A. Pacella JAP/mec cc: Cecil Clark, Building Inspector ✓ David Musante, Mayor-elect f- ROGERS, ALDEN& PACELLA, P.A. Attorneys at Law Arthur M. Rogers 73 State Street Doris F. Alden Springfield, Massachusetts 01103 Joseph A. Pacella (413) 781-2470 David H. Rome November 16, 1979 Mr. Cecil Clark, Building Inspector Building Department, City Hall Northampton, Massachusetts 01060 Re: 41 Main Street, Florence, Massachusetts Dear Mr. Clark: Please be advised that you are hereby requested to furnish this office with one (1) copy of any plans, plot plans, site plans, or sketch plans, contained in your records in regards to the aforementioned property. These plans should have been submitted to you at the time that you approved both the original building permit, and the second building permit whereby mixed residen- tial business use was authorized. Please furnish these to us at your earliest convenience, as these are needed by the Board of Appeals in order to reach their decision, and I have been requested to obtain them by Attorney Eric Gervais. Any charges incurred for copies of these plans, should be billed to this office and they will be promptly re- mitted. If you have any questions, or if there is any problem in your office furnishing us with these documents, please advise us immediately. Yours very truly, 6 Jo` e h A. Pacella JAP/mec LULDIEV r 79 NOV 191979 613/al _ d DEFT.OF BUILDING INSPECTIONS Piirj NORTHAMPTON, MA.01060 I ��� ROGERS, AEDEN, & PACEL LA, P.A. ,�F 4 I P N FILL? GOODW D►Attorheys at LW (r OLIVEReu 73 State Street 01 « NOV q I HELP THE 1`r o Sprunngricid, Massachusetts 01103 Wm. Me -, Mr . Cecil Clark, Building Inspector I Building Department, City Hall �V ( 9 l979 Northampton, Massachusetts 01060 DEPT.OF BUILDING INSPECTIONS t NORtHAMPTON.MA.Ol�b �� ( 9 ,