City Hall Schedules March 28 Freedom of Information Workshop

What city documents and information are members of the public entitled to see, and how much notice must board and commissions provide before holding a public meeting?

These are some of the questions that might come up when the city hosts a workshop to explain the state Freedom of Information (FOI) Act on Monday, March 28, at 7 p.m. in auditorium.

The public is welcome to attend. After all, it is an open public meeting.

But Administrative Assistant Thomas Taylor said members of the Board of Aldermen, all city commissions and department heads received invitations, "and are encouraged to attend."

It is the first official informational workshop the staff of the state FOI Commission will conduct in Shelton since 2006. City officials say they scheduled it voluntarily, although the FOI Commission ordered them to have it.

The FOI Commission ruled against the city on Feb. 23 in a complaint brought by a New Haven Register reporter, challenging Mayor Mark Lauretti’s decision not to release documents related to the suspension of former Superintendent of Highways and Bridges Bill Mooney.

Lauretti said the documents were exempt from public disclosure because they were personnel files, and Mooney and his union representative opposed releasing them on the grounds they were a violation of his privacy.

But the commission ruled those specific records could be released. And in its ruling, it ordered the city to hold a workshop.

Such orders are commonly attached to decisions, and part of the duties of the commission’s Public Information Education Officer Thomas Hennick is to conduct the workshops.

Taylor said city officials opposed the order, because they didn’t want it to appear that the city was being compelled to hold the workshop.

But Taylor said he wanted to attend the workshop to learn more about the Connecticut FOI Act, and Lauretti agreed that it was time to do so, since they city hadn’t had one in five years.

A former career Army officer who was hired in December 2009 to serve as the city’s chief administrative officer, Taylor said he had attended education sessions about the federal FOI law, but not the state’s, and he felt he needed to.

Many of Hennick’s workshops are, in fact, done by request, not only because of an order by the commission.

"It was time for us to have another workshop," Taylor said.

"A lot of these commissions don’t meet on Monday night, so it’s a good night to do it," said Assistant Corporation Counsel Raymond Sous.

Attendance is not mandatory for city commission members or department heads, however.

Two local activists who have filed FOI complaints against city boards and commissions said they thought it was a good idea for members of the public to attend, because they would learn a lot about open meetings and what city records must be disclosed.

Irving Steiner of Partridge Lane, a founder of the We-R1 neighborhood advocacy group in Shelton, said one of his FOI complaints led to the workshop in 2006. He thought it was worth attending.

"They gave out brochures about what makes a legitimate Freedom of Information request," he said.

Steiner said he thought many city officials were uninformed about what information must be disclosed under the law and some of the FOI Act’s open meeting provisions.

"A lot of time their interpretations surprise you," he said.

But he was disappointed with the 2006 workshop. It did skipped over some important issues and was poorly attended by city officials, while those who did attend seemed to feel they had nothing to learn from it, he said.

Mark Widomski, the 2009 Citizens United candidate for mayor, made a complaint against the Shelton Board of Education last year after school officials would not give him information about school bus ridership. The commission heard the complaint but has not yet made a decision.

He disagreed with Steiner’s assessment of Shelton city officials’ responsiveness. "I’ve never had a problem at City Hall," he said, though he added he has clashed with the school board.

Widomski said he was pleased with the way the FOI Commission handled his complaint hearing in Hartford. He appeared without a lawyer and was comfortable at the hearing.

"I found the whole process was user friendly," he said.

But he acknowledged that sometimes City Hall officials might be reluctant to release information that critics might use to attack Lauretti.

Steiner won a complaint in 2008 against the Planning & Zoning Commission, which had granted a certificate of noncompliance for the Fairchild Heights mobile home park after failing to list it in the public notice for the public meeting.

He said he thought the FOI Commission members acted like they didn’t want to make waves, so they weren’t as tough on the Planning & Zoning Commission as he wanted.

But Steiner was pleased to hear the workshop would take place and hopes city officials try to attend.

"I’ll probably drop by there and see if they’re paying attention," he said.