FREEDOM
OF INFORMATION COMMISSION
OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT
| In the Matter of a Complaint by | FINAL DECISION | ||
| Complainants | |||
| against | Docket #FIC 2001-492 | ||
|
Town Manager, Town of Bloomfield; Baine Wild, Executive Assistant, Office of the Town Manager, Town of Bloomfield; and Barbara Williams, Director of Human Resources, Human Resources Department, Town of Bloomfield, |
|||
| Respondents | October 9, 2002 | ||
After consideration of the entire record, the following facts are found and conclusions of law are reached:
1. The respondents are public agencies within the meaning of §1-200(1), G.S.
2. The Freedom of Information (“FOI”) Commission (hereinafter “Commission”) after a hearing held on November 30, 2001 issued a Final Decision dated August 14, 2002 in contested case docket # FIC 2001-492, William Fothergill v. Town Manager, Town of Bloomfield (hereinafter “August 2002 decision in FIC 2001-492”).
3. In finding 2 of the August 2002 decision in FIC 2001-492, the Commission found that by letter dated August 14, 2001, the complainant requested that the respondent town manager provide him with an opportunity to review the complainant’s personnel files, including “the non-personnel file”.
4. In finding 12 of the August 2002 decision in FIC 2001-492, the Commission further found that, by letter dated November 13, 2001, the respondent Executive Assistant informed the complainant that “We have received a copy of your complaint filed with the Freedom of Information Commission. I have contacted our labor attorney…and he advises that you should have access to the material you wish to review. You may contact Mrs. Barbara Williams in the Human Relations Department to set up a time for this review.”
5. The Commission concluded in the August 2002 decision in FIC 2001-492, that the “respondent’s November 13, 2001 offer to provide the complainant with access to review the requested records, some three months after the complainant’s August request, was not prompt within the meaning of §1-210(a), G.S.”, and therefore, that “the respondent violated §1-210(a), G. S.” The Commission ordered in paragraph 2 of its order that:
This Commission shall convene a further hearing pursuant to §1-206 (b)(2), G.S., limited to providing the respondent with an opportunity to show cause why a civil penalty of not less than twenty dollars nor more than one thousand dollars ought not to be imposed upon him for his failure to promptly provide the complainant with access to review the requested records.
6. Section 1-206(b)(2), G.S., provides in relevant part:
upon the finding that a denial of any right created by the Freedom of Information Act was without reasonable grounds and after the custodian or other official directly responsible for the denial has been given an opportunity to be heard at a hearing conducted in accordance with sections 4-176e to 4-184, inclusive, the commission may, in its discretion, impose against the custodian or other official a civil penalty of not less than twenty dollars nor more than one thousand dollars.
7. At the hearing in this matter, the respondent Executive Assistant offered evidence with respect to the delay in providing the complainant with the requested records.
8. It is found that the evidence provided by the respondent Executive Assistant does not support a finding of “reasonable grounds” and therefore, it is concluded that the failure to promptly provide the complainant with access to the requested records was “without reasonable grounds” within the meaning of §1-206(b)(2), G.S.
The following order by the Commission is hereby recommended on the basis of the record concerning the above-captioned complaint:
1. Forthwith, the respondent Executive Assistant shall remit to this Commission a civil penalty in the amount of $100.00.
Approved by Order of the Freedom of Information Commission at its regular meeting of October 9, 2002.
_______________________________________
Petrea A. Jones
Acting Clerk of the Commission
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:
William Fothergill
670 Garden Street
Town Manager, Town of Bloomfield; Baine Wild,
Executive Assistant, Office of the Town Manager,
Town of Bloomfield; and Barbara Williams, Director
of Human Resources, Human Resources Department,
Town of Bloomfield,
c/o Donald W. Strickland, Esq.
Siegel, O'Connor, Zangari, O'Donnell & Beck
150 Trumbull Street
Hartford, CT 06103
________________________________
Petrea A. Jones
Acting Clerk of the Commission
FIC/2001-492/FD/paj/10/10/2002