Board of Selectmen Meeting March 9, 2020

Board of Selectmen Meeting March 9, 2020

For over a year I have come before the Board of Selectmen with my concerns about the violations of my requests for information through the Freedom of Information Act.

My first request which has still to be resolved from the beginning of 2019 and other requests to the present.

Town Attorney Bob DeCrescenzo tried to resolve the matter but to date I have not received most of my requests although many are complete and should be available immediately.

My compliant with the Freedom of Information Commission is still pending.

My outstanding requests are:

October 31, 2019 separation letters from full time employees, many are still pending.

December 11, 2019, I requested the letters received from the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities and the Town’s response regarding Gertrude Adusei’s termination, partial request.

October 15, 2019 cost of transcript from Brandon Legal Services from Sgt. Trombley’s hearing.

January 6, 2020 Police IA Investigation of a police officer’s vandalized locker

January 21, 2020 Janell Mullen’s Personnel file

February 2, 2020 Police IA investigation Shot Gun incident.

February 20, 2020 Police IA Investigation of Sgt. Corcoran relating to Mark Rustic, Building Superintendent.

February 20, 2020 police IA Investigation of Officer Trevor Brittell’s salary dispute

March 2, 2020 emails to and from Town Manager Maria Capriola, Heads of Department and Town and Labor Attorneys.

As you enter the Town Manager’s Office there is a receptacle with pamphlets giving Highlights of the Connecticut Freedom of information Act.

Under Public Records it states: “You may inspect public records during regular office hours but copies, print outs or transcripts should be requested in writing.”

Town Manager Maria Capriola has insisted that all requests must be made in writing, in violation of the Freedom of Information Act.

I would assume that Chief Boulter’s Discipline Log would have truthful information. However, #5 on the Log has Officer Devin being disciplined for Training on 2/12/2009 listing her married name although she didn’t get married until 2011. How many other inconsistencies are in these logs?

The Labor Attorney logs that I received had most information redacted.

The Labor Attorney according to Town records has received over $100,000 without the charges for two labor meetings with the Police Union and the Town Union. Both meetings were from about 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM 16 hours of meetings at $275/hr. This does not include travel time and preparation around $5,000 additional dollars of non-appropriated funding coming from the General Fund.

Both these Union meetings have been continued. The Police Union will have met on Monday, March 9, 2020 and will eventually vote to return Sgt. Trombly to work. At that time the Police Commission and the Town should evaluate the abuse of power of Chief Boulter in the termination of Sgt. Trombly and the costs associated with this frivolous termination.

The Town Union meeting will be continued in April with the Union voting that Robin Newton’s dismissal was an abuse of power and she will return to work.

Robin Newton fulfilled all the conditions of her probation and was an exemplary employee and never should have been terminated.

It appears that the Board of Selectmen is not interested in any oversight of Town Manager Maria Capriola’s conduct and continues to embrace her management style with excellent evaluations and increases in salary although she has abused her power. Does the Board of Selectmen believe that ignoring the public’s and employees demand for oversight of Town Manager Maria Capriola’s conduct will hinder their chances for reelection?

With over 50 Town meetings it appears that many of the minutes of the meetings are not filed in a timely manner.

According to the Freedom of Information, “Agency minutes and record of votes must be available to the public.”

“The minutes of each agency meeting must be made available to the public within 7 days of the session.”

Many of the meeting minutes are not available for months on the Town’s Website. This is in violation of the Freedom of Information Act.

As a professional Town Manager Maria Capriola should not continually ignore State Statutes that are in place for government transparency.

The Grand List increased by 2.66% due to increased buildings and property taxes.

The increase in the Grand List should be used to reduce the mill rate and not increase spending.

With a glut of apartments on the market the demand will decrease and many of the developers will either sell their property or will have to lower the rents to sustain the developments. This will lead to migration from other towns and lowered assessments due to lower market values.

As the Town and Board of Education goes through the budget process, the Board of Finance should be mindful of the financial pressures on the taxpayers to support their budgets and the State’s financial stability.