The Wareham Conservation Commission violated state Open Meeting Law in three different ways in recent years, according to a letter penned by Massachusetts Assistant Attorney General Sarah Monahan on Feb. 28.

Wareham resident Nora Bicki filed two complaints with the Office of the Attorney General on Nov. 1, 2021 concerning Wareham’s Conservation Commission.

“I was searching for a set of minutes when I learned that no minutes had been created or accepted for all of 2020 and up to June of 2021 when I filed the first complaint,” Bicki said in an email. “When the Chair failed to respond as required by law, and then continued to violate the law by not creating and accepting minutes for meetings after June, I filed the second complaint.”

Altogether, Bicki’s complaints allege that the commission didn’t approve meeting minutes in a timely manner, didn’t respond to her initial complaint and didn’t complete state-required Open Meeting Law certification forms.

The attorney general’s office ordered the commission to comply with state law now and in the future. Monahan cautioned that if the office finds the commission committed a similar violation in the future, the determination “may be considered evidence of intent to violate the Open Meeting Law.”

The office ordered the commission to create and approve minutes for all of its 2020 and 2021 meetings within 60 days of the letter’s writing and send copies to Bicki by at least five days after that. The commission was also ordered to complete Open Meeting Law certification forms within two weeks of receipt of the assistant attorney general’s letter.

State Open Meeting Law requires public bodies to make public documents, like meeting minutes and other records, available for request in a timely manner. Monahan wrote that though “timely manner” isn’t explicitly defined in state law, the attorney general’s office interprets that to mean within 30 days or within the next three public meetings, whichever comes later.

The Conservation Commission approved and made available several sets of meeting minutes between eight and 12 months after said meetings, the state office said, falling far short of its idea of a “timely manner.”

In addition, the state office said the Commission did not respond to Bicki or the attorney general within two weeks of Bicki’s complaints, again violating state Open Meeting Law.

Bicki lastly alleged that Commission members hadn’t completed required, state-prescribed certification forms to show they understand Open Meeting Law after being elected to public office.

According to the assistant attorney general’s letter, Wareham Town Clerk Michelle Bisonette told Bicki in October that she only required public body members to sign the Clerk’s own form confirming receipt of Open Meeting Law educational materials.

“If it is the Wareham Town clerk’s practice to accept a generic form in lieu of the Attorney General’s Open Meeting Law certification form,” Monahan’s letter reads, “we advise that the Clerk amend this practice and take steps to bring all other Wareham public bodies into compliance with this aspect of the law.”