FOI Hearing Officer Rules in Favor of Fetchick

A hearing officer for the Freedom of Information Commission has ruled in favor of Kathy Fetchick on all counts in her complaint, saying the Board of Education violated state statutes when it held an executive session for an improper purpose, failed to limit attendance to people whose presence was necessary to present testimony or opinion and failed to provide adequate notice of the topic discussed during the executive session.

In a report submitted to the commission for a final decision, Hearing Officer Lisa Fein Siegel said she recommends the board create minutes for the portion of the executive session that they improperly held, comply with the law and are encouraged to contact the commission to schedule a FOI workshop.

The report still must be reviewed and voted on by the full commission. The date for that vote has not been scheduled, staff at the Hartford-based commission said.

Fetchick said her intent in bringing forward the action was to highlight state statutes and the limitations imposed by law.

"People will understand the limitations by the law that you are allowed to go into executive session," she said. "The entire time this has been about the process."

Fetchick said the town's attorney made an offer to drop the matter prior to when she and some other education board members appeared in front of the hearing officer to testify in July, but she did not accept it.

"It's not about the personalities, it's not about the people, it's about following the law," Fetchick said. "It's about doing what's right."

Bill Hart, the education board chairman who was recently elected to the top post, said the law in this case was "gray" and he was told the board could make its case on appeal.

"It's unfortunate we weren't able to handle it better," he said. "The FOI law is complicated…I don't know if I would handle it better."

At the same time, if Siegel's report is adopted by the full FOI Commission, he would favor abiding by the recommendations, Hart said.

"When the decision is final, we'll rely on the council to make sure we do things correctly," he said.