FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION
OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT

 

The above-captioned matter was heard as a contested case on September 29, 2003, at which time the complainant and the respondent appeared, stipulated to certain facts and presented testimony, exhibits and argument on the complaint. 

 

            After consideration of the entire record, the following facts are found and conclusions of law are reached:

 

            1.  The respondent is a public agency within the meaning of §1-200(1), G.S.

 

2.  By letter received and filed April 15, 2003, the complainant appealed to the Commission, alleging that the respondent violated the FOI Act by not complying with her request for copies of unpaid or outstanding bills pertaining to the Saw Mill Redevelopment Project.

 

            3.  It is found that by letter dated March 27, 2003 the complainant requested an itemized expenditure report for the Saw Mill Redevelopment Project. 

 

4.  It is found that the respondent promptly provided a copy of the requested expenditure report.

 

5.  It is found that after the complainant reviewed the expenditure report, she repeatedly telephoned the respondent on or about April 8, 2003 to request copies of all unpaid bills relating to the Saw Mill Redevelopment Project.

 

6.  It is found that the respondent’s reply to the request for bills was that he had provided all the records in his possession, and that he did not have possession of the unpaid bills.

 

7.  It is found that all unpaid bills routinely pass through the respondent’s office, which either pays the bills and enters the relevant data into a computer, or, if the expenditure exceeds the amount in the relevant account, returns the bill to the department that originated the work relating to the bill.  An unpaid bill is then not returned to the respondent until a budget transfer is approved to permit payment.

 

8.  Section 1-200(5), G.S., provides:

 

    “Public records or files” means any recorded data or information relating to the conduct of the public's business prepared, owned, used, received or retained by a public agency, or to which a public agency is entitled to receive a copy by law or contract under section 1-218, whether such data or information be handwritten, typed, tape-recorded, printed, photostated, photographed or recorded by any other method.

 

9.  Section 1-210(a), G.S., provides in relevant part:

 

    Except as otherwise provided by any federal law or state statute, all records maintained or kept on file by any public agency, whether or not such records are required by any law or by any rule or regulation, shall be public records and every person shall have the right to (1) inspect such records promptly during regular office or business hours, (2) copy such records in accordance with subsection (g) of section 1-212, or (3) receive a copy of such records in accordance with section 1-212. 

 

10.  It is concluded that the requested unpaid bills are public records within the meaning of §§1-200(5) and 1-210(a), G.S.

 

11.  It is found that the complainant sought to discover, by requesting the unpaid bills, the actual cost of the Saw Mill Redevelopment Project.

 

12.  It is also found that the accounting practices of the City of West Haven, including the payment of Saw Mill Redevelopment Project costs from various accounts, made it difficult for the complainant to discover the actual costs of the project.

 

13.  It is also found that the complainant exhibited remarkable diligence and perseverance in uncovering evidence of unpaid bills, in the form of various contracts and other records.

 

14.  It is also found, however, that the respondent did not retain copies of the unpaid bills after he returned them to the originating departments, and does not have authority to require departments to return unpaid bills to him.

15.  It is further found that the respondent referred the complainant to either the city’s redevelopment attorney or to the individual departments to which the unpaid bills had been returned.

 

16.  The Commission is troubled by the difficulty encountered by the complainant in obtaining records that go to the core of  a government agency’s accountability to its citizens for expenditures of public money.   The Commission notes that the complainant is the City of West Haven’s former Redevelopment Authority chairwoman, and as such has knowledge and resources beyond ordinary citizens.  Nonetheless, even the complainant, after exercising exceptional efforts, was frustrated in her efforts to obtain basic information about government expenditures on a matter of legitimate public concern.

 

17.  Nonetheless, it is found that the respondent does not maintain the records requested by the complainant, and that those records can be requested from the  individual departments that have custody of them, or from the city’s redevelopment attorney. 

 

18.  Consequently, it is concluded that the respondent technically did not violate §1-210(a), G.S.

 

19.  In light of the conclusion in paragraph 18, above, the Commission cannot address the complainant’s request, made at the hearing, that a civil penalty be assessed against the respondent.

 

 

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 March 24, 2004.

 

 

___________________________________

Ann B. Gimmartino

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:

 

Sharon Spaziani

85 Main Street

West Haven, CT  06516

 

Director of Finance,

City of West Haven

c/o Henry C. Szadkowski, Esq.

West Haven Corporation Counsel

355 Main Street

West Haven, CT  06516

 

 

___________________________________

Ann B. Gimmartino

Acting Clerk of the Commission

 

FIC/2003-143/FD/abg/03/26/2004