Mayor Carol Waller continues to play her cards close to the vest when it comes to Linden Avenue and a proposed visitor center and parking lot to be funded with $4.2 million in federal funds.

In May, trustees complained they had been left out of discussions about the project when they discovered to their surprise a request for proposals had been sent to firms interesting in doing site assessment and planning services for the village.

Last Wednesday, the trustees were brought into the loop, but the public was again denied an opportunity to participate in the process when the mayor and board held a closed-door luncheon meeting in a private dining room at the Otesaga Hotel as guests of Jane Forbes Clark.

Meeting with the mayor and board were Bassett Hospital CEO Dr. William Streck, town of Otsego supervisor Tom Breiten and Cooperstown school superintendent Mary Jo McPhail, all members of the Linden Avenue executive committee. Hospital vice-president Joe Middleton, a member of the technical committee, also attended.

The only member of the public in attendance was Clark.

"I believe the intent of the meeting was to get the village board up to speed on the progress that has been made," Breiten said.

But a gathering of the board to discuss public business requires the session to be open to the public, according to the New York State Open Meetings Law.

"It sounds like a meeting to me," said Robert Freeman, executive director of the NYS Committee on Open Government Monday. "It sounds as though the board conducted a meeting that was inconsistent with the open meetings law."

Freeman said social gathering are not covered under the law, but a gathering which includes a discussion of public business is considered a meeting.

According to a booklet published by Freeman's office, "any time a quorum of a public body gathers for the purpose of discussing public business, the meeting must be convened open to the public, whether or not there is an intent to take action, and regardless of the manner in which the gathering may be characterized."

Waller said Monday she and the board were invited to lunch and that she had checked with the New York Conference of Mayors and was told the "board of trustees can have lunch together."

She declined further comment on the circumstances surrounding the meeting or the details of what was discussed until she had a chance to speak with village attorney John Lambert.

Waller failed to provide any additional comment in response to the original request and a follow up phone call.

Breiten and Waller both mentioned that trustee Jeff Katz had questioned the legality of the meeting.

"I asked, maybe two-thirds of the way into the meeting, is this a legal meeting?" Katz said Tuesday.

Waller replied to him that she had called NYCOM and it is legal for the board to have a luncheon, he said. "I did not pursue it."

Katz said he had spoken with village clerk Teri Barown the day before the meeting, but neither of them was certain about the appropriateness of the meeting.

Talk at the meeting was about Linden Avenue generally and certain ideas about how to satisfy the needs of all the interested parties, he said.

Asked if there were discussions about things too sensitive for public consumption, he said it didn't strike him that way.

"It struck me this stuff could have been discussed in public," he said.

Breiten said the Linden Avenue project is still in its beginning phases and that the next step will be for the technical and executive committees to complete their review of the four proposals submitted and make a recommendation to the village board.