In and Out of Town Government

I don't know the rules in Hopkinton, so I can't comment on Bill Felkner's ejection from the Chariho School Committee dais on the grounds that he's also a Hopkinton Town Council member, but it seems to me there must be some laws permitting him to sit in the audience of a public meeting:

Bill Felkner, a member of the Chariho School Committee who was elected to the Hopkinton Town Council, was escorted from the school board meeting last night after a vote that he be removed.

A lawyer for the School Committee, Jon M. Anderson, said Felkner stopped being a committee member when he took the oath of office for the Hopkinton Town Council on Monday night. He said a courtroom, not the Chariho School Committee’s first meeting, was the proper place to decide the dispute.

William Day, in his last few minutes as chairman before Holly Eaves, of Charlestown, was elected to succeed him, polled the other members of the board about whether Felkner should be removed. A majority voted yes.

Richmond police Officer Dan Kelley, who was standing by, was asked to escort Felkner out.

Felkner asked if he could sit in the audience, which included Town Council members from all three Chariho towns, but the officer told him he had to leave the building.