FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION
OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT
In the Matter of a Complaint by FINAL DECISION
Cynthia O'Hara,
Complainant
against Docket #FIC 94-262
Chairman and Treasurer, Middlefield 1994 Old Home
Day Committee, and Middlefield First Selectman,
Respondents June 14, 1995
The above-captioned matter was heard as a contested case on March 16, 1995, at which time the complainant and the respondents appeared, stipulated to certain facts and presented testimony, exhibits and argument on the complaint. This case was consolidated for hearing with Docket #FIC 94-276, Cynthia O'Hara v. Middlefield First Selectman.
After consideration of the entire record, the following facts are found and conclusions of law are reached:
1. The respondent first selectman is a public agency within the meaning of 1-18a(a), G.S.
2. By letter of complaint filed August 4, 1994, the complainant appealed to the Commission, alleging that her June 21, 1994 request to review the financial records of the Middlefield Old Home Days Committee had been denied by the committee's chairman and treasurer, and that her June 22, 1994 request to the Middlefield first selectman for the same records had also been denied.
3. The complainant maintains that the committee is a public agency within the meaning of 1-18a(a), G.S.
4. It is found that the committee's sole function is to organize a day of festivities in June, including a craft show, a parade, games, rides, music and other entertainment.
5. It is therefore found that the committee does not perform a governmental function.
6. It is found that the committee was formed by the then first selectman in 1985, who assembled a group of people to put on an event in connection with the Connecticut's 350th anniversary.
Docket #FIC 94-262 Page 2
7. It is therefore found that the committee was created by government.
8. It is found that the committee received approximately $4,000 to $6,000 from private sources in its two most recent years of operations.
9. It is found that the town of Middlefield contributed $500 to $1,000 to the committee in its two most recent years of operations.
10. It is found that the committee received a $1,000 matching granting from the Connecticut Valley Tourism Commission in 1992-1993.
11. It is also found that the town of Middlefield has allowed the committee in the past, when the complainant chaired the committee, to use the town's postage meter, and that the committee on those occasions reimbursed the town for the cost of the postage.
12. It is also found that, when the complainant was the chair of the committee, the town of Middlefield contributed some 20 or 30 hours of secretarial time and assistance.
13. It is also found that the only service received by the committee from the town in 1994 was trash collection.
14. It is found that the committee does not purchase liability insurance, and that the town's pre-exisiting liability insurance, paid for by the town, provides coverage to the town (not the committee) for such one-day events.
15. It is therefore found that the committee is predominantly funded from private sources.
16. It is found that the first selectman has served as a member of the committeee, and assisted the complainant when she chaired the committee.
17. It is also found that the committee does not account to the town or the first selectman for its expenditures or activities, and that the first selectman does not direct the members of the committee.
18. It is found that the members of the committee as it is presently constituted are essentially self-appointed volunteers, who are not appointed by the town or the first selectman.
19. It is found that the committee holds its festivities at a town field that is open to other residents and private organizations.
Docket #FIC 94-262 Page 3
20. It is found that the committee is not governed by town charter or ordinance.
21. It is found that the committee in the past has used town stationery, although it does not currently do so.
22. It is therefore found that there is some, but not a significant degree of, inter-relationship between the town government and the committee.
23. It is concluded that, on balance, the committee is not a public agency within the meaning of 1-18a(a), G.S.
24. With respect to the complainant's request to the first selectman for the committee's records, it is found that the first selectman is not the custodian of those records, that the records are not in the possession of the town, and that the first selectman and the town do not exert any control over the records.
25. It is therefore concluded that the first selectman did not violate the Freedom of Information Act by referring the complainant back to the committee chairman and treasurer for the records she sought.
The following order by the Commission is hereby recommended on the basis of the record concerning the above-captioned complaint:
1. The complaint is dismissed.
Approved by Order of the Freedom of Information Commission at its regular meeting of June 14, 1995.
Debra L. Rembowski
Clerk of the Commission
Docket #FIC 94-262 Page 4
PURSUANT TO SECTION 4-180(c), G.S. THE FOLLOWING ARE THE NAMES OF EACH PARTY AND THE MOST RECENT MAILING ADDRESS, PROVIDED TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION, OF THE PARTIES OR THEIR AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE.
THE PARTIES TO THIS CONTESTED CASE ARE:
CYNTHIA O'HARA
Box 459
Middlefield, CT 06455
CHAIRMAN AND TREASURER, MIDDLEFIELD 1994 OLD HOME DAY COMMITTEE
c/o Edward Tulinski
P.O. Box 505
Middlefield, CT 06455-0448
MIDDLEFIELD FIRST SELECTMAN
c/o Bruno L. Morasutti, Esq.
Luby, Olson, Mango, Gaffney & DeFrances
405 Broad Street
Meriden, CT 06450
Debra L. Rembowski
Clerk of the Commission