Connecticut transparency headlines
From Sunshine Review
This article is a list of transparency related news from Connecticut.
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| Report It • | The Good • | The Bad • | The Ugly | |
Connecticut attorney gets two years in prison for bribery
Ciarcia is a past president of the Meriden Community Action Agency where he served for 20 years on the governing board until City Council removed him for serving in violation of a city code that requires board members to be appointed by current council members. He also operated a law firm in Meriden. The attorney bribed the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs in order to receive favorable contracts for two construction companies he represented. In addition to the 24 months behind bars, Ciarcia will be under two-year supervision. [1]
Court documents allege that from July 2002 until November 2005, while Ciarcia was representing the two Meriden-based construction companies Escarnio Construction LLC and Fischer Supply LLC, he helped to formulate several illegal contract deals between the USVA and the companies.[1]
Milford mayor again declines to release report
"Mayor James L. Richetelli Jr. declined for a second day to release a consultant's report on the operations of the city Building Inspection Department.
"Basically, I want to read it first," he said Thursday of the eagerly awaited report by L. Robert Kimball and Associates of Ebensburg, Pa. The $48,000 report was paid for by the Board of Aldermen, which is also waiting to see the document.
Thomas Hennick, public education officer for the state Freedom of Information Commission, said Richetelli's claim that the document is a "work product" does not seem to apply to the consultant's report.
"It would seem that the exemption for a draft might not fit," the state FOI official said. "I don't know exactly why he would claim that.""
FOI officer recommends city victory
"A state Freedom of Information Commission hearing officer has recommended that the Herald’s FOI complaint against the city for withholding environmental reports regarding pollution at Willow Street Park be dismissed.
The city had known about the pollution for more than a month, after contractor Leo Camosci of LTC Construction LLC discovered remnants of a former structure in the Willow Street public housing project, and petroleum-based contaminants in the dirt.
But the mayor’s office and the Parks and Recreation Department director remained mum."
Ex-official claims selectmen held illegal meetings in Winsted
"The Board of Selectmen may have conducted illegal meetings via e-mail, a former selectman says.
David Villa says he has 1,500 e-mails between board members using town accounts that he received after filing a Freedom of Information request.
“There are communications occurring between members of the Board of Selectmen,” Villa said. “Town business is discussed and does not have the benefit of public notice or minutes.”"
Report opposes decision to keep addresses private
"The report in a Freedom of Information Commission case about whether the town correctly interpreted a state law keeping private the home addresses of public employees recommends deciding against the town.
The case goes before the full commission this week, to the worry of multiple state agencies that expressed support for the town's perspective."
We Should Know Where Our Public Officials Live
"A growing crusade to hide the home addresses of any and all who govern us should warn honest citizens that government of, by, and for the people is at risk. Since when is an address a state secret?
If we believe in democracy, in a free and open society, then we should fix seemingly contradictory state laws or risk becoming a nation of scaredy-cats."
Friends of Open Space consider their options after commission ruling
"The Friends of Open Space are considering their options with respect to the recent ruling by the state's Freedom of Information Commission, which concluded its investigation into two separate complaints filed by the group early last year against the Town of Fairfield, the Conservation Commission and the Inland Wetlands Agency. Kathryn Braun, the attorney for the group explained they may try and convince the commission they were wrong in part of their ruling or take the group's complaint to the "next level.""
Winsted FOI hearing reopened
"The Freedom of Information Commission has reopened a hearing on behalf of a former town official, who is accusing the current Republicans on the Board of Selectmen of conducting illegal meetings through e-mail.
David C. Villa was informed Thursday by the FOI Commission they were reopening the hearings, in which he filed a complaint against Republican Selectmen Gene Berlinski, David Cappabianca, Michael Hamm, Jeffrey Liskin and Mayor Kenneth Fracasso."
Towns seek relief from state Web site rule
"Visitors to the Voluntown municipal Web site are greeted with two red circles with slashes across them - the universal sign for “No” - framing a notice stating the site has been shut down due to recently expanded Freedom of Information laws requiring that all towns post meeting agendas and minutes on their Web sites.
”The town has no IT department, and complying with the bill will put a burden on each board in town,” the site states.
Town officials in Voluntown, Griswold and Lyme are among a group throughout the state pushing for a repeal of the law that since Oct. 1 has required municipalities and other public agencies to post board, commission and committee agendas and minutes on their Web sites."
FOI Commission rules for Herald
"The state Freedom of Information Commission ruled Thursday that Mayor Timothy Stewart’s downtown steering committee was a public agency subject to the laws of open government that apply to all public meetings.
The commission also decided the city’s finance board held an illegal closed-door session during the most recent budget season and that the city had a right to withhold a report on pollution at a park site because it could be used in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development."
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