Minutes & Public's Right to Know

[Dr.Ken Sokolowski]

I invite Bulldog, his friends and kindred spirits to attend tomorrow evening's meeting and to bark out to the issue which concerns us here. Few local issues rise to the level of this - right of the public to oversee those who we elect. Without meaningful meaty minutes, what will the tenacious public bulldogs chew on.

[cruzrt]

Weather forecast for January 3rd is snow. If it's just an ordinary snow event, I wonder if the Council Meeting will be postponed or cancelled. Does anyone know what the precedent is in such a situation? Does the meeting just get moved back 1 night, or does it just get cancelled until the next meeting 2 or 3 weeks later?

[Dr.Ken Sokolowski]

If I were paranoid, I would think that the Council / Manager would do anything to curtail the public attendance and participation in Tuesday's (1/3/2006) Council meeting. No public = no disturbing comments; they get to do what they want without distractions and need to redact or reduce the minutes. In this scenario, I would expect them to hold the Council Meeting especially if there were ice, sleet, & snow.

If I were an optimist, I would think that the Council / Manager would consider the safety of the public, who would attempt almost anything to be there Tuesday evening at SDMS 7:00 Pm for their Council Meeting to speak their mind before the council which they elected. In this scenario, I would expect them to cancel the Council meeting and to call a special meeting to replace it (only 24 hours notice is required) for perhaps the NEXT day or later - the notice would have to be posted and conveyed to councilors and could be called (I believe) by as few as three Councilors.

If I were a pragmatist, I would say I don't know what they will do. I would say, pay attention to the media, including the websites which keep an eye on Town Hall Wethersfield for late breaking details.

Forecast: 06109
Today, 1/2/2006 Monday: 15:10 EST
Per www.weatherunderground.com

---Mon: 1/2/2006---

• 1:oo PM snow 80%
  
• 4:oo snow 80%
  
• 7:oo snow 80%
  
• 10:oo snow 100%

---Tues: 1/3/2006---
Revised as of 06:00 1/3/2005

• 1:oo AM snow 100%
  
• 4:oo snow 100%
  
• 7:oo snow 100%
  
• 10:oo snow 100%
  
• 1:oo PM snow 100%
  
• 4:oo snow 100%
  
• 7:oo snow 100%
  
• 10:oo snow 60%

WFSB's Early Closing list:
www.wfsb.com/Global/link.asp?L=174770

[Dr.Ken Sokolowski]

Wethersfield Public Schools have been closed today!

A Parking Ban is in effect until 6:00 AM 1/4/2006 Wednesday.

Town Hall opens at 08:00.

Awaiting word from Manager regarding Council meeting scheduled for tonight.

You are required to clear snow from sidewalks within 24 hours after the snow has stopped.

You are required to de-ice your sidewalks within 12 hours (daylight) after the precipitation has stopped.

[Dr.Ken Sokolowski]

According to the Town Manager with whom I spoke about 08:30 today 1/3/2006, the decision on whether to hold, postpone or cancel the Town Council meeting has not been made.

Expect that decision around NOON today.

UPDATE: It's noon and still no word from the Manager's office; they said they will contact me as soon as a decision is reached.
UPDATE: It's 13:00 and still no word from the Manager's office; they said they will contact me as soon as a decision is reached.

I will post that info here. (I expect it to be cancelled and the minutes issue will probably be addressed on the next Council meeting, Tuesday, 1/17/2005 - the day after the MLK/Jr holiday.

[Dr.Ken Sokolowski]

THE MEETING OF THE WETHERSFIELD
TOWN COUNCIL
WILL BE HELD
TONIGHT
AS ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED:
Tues, 1/3/2006
7:00 pm
Silas Deane Middle School
Auditorium

[Dr.Ken Sokolowski]

Ken Sokolowski
Wethersfield

Dear Neighbors serving on the Town Council,
Ms. Therrien,
Ms. Sassano,

re: The Proposal to radically change and cripple the form, the content and the access to the minutes of the boards, commissions and committees of the Town of Wethersfield.

Good evening,

This proposal to misinterpret the FOIA and to change the format and content of our boards and commissions is short-sighted and is not in the best interest of those to whom you ultimately answer - we the people - citizens of Wethersfield.

Wethersfield is home to descendants of the Mayflower. Wethersfield is home to descendants of the American Revolutions. Wethersfield is home to current and past members of our Armed Forces and their descendants - some of whom have given all that they had to give -to protect our Country and its underlying principles.

Not only would the implementation of this proposal be imprudent, it flies in the face of our American heritage. We the people have a right and responsibility to oversee those - like yourselves - who we allow to lead us and control the administration of our layers of government. This responsibility of oversight has not been, is not, and should not be limited to periodic elections or referenda - nor will concerned citizens allow it to be.

By now, all of you should have reviewed all of the material that has been provided to you at a local on-line forum - a link to which I have emailed each of you (with no evidence of failed receipt). I have used that medium to stimulate and aggregate ideas about this proposal. Like an clam, there may have been a little grit, but the rest should have fed you well with the good information.

There is more than enough information there to convince receptive and responsible public servants like yourselves to quash this proposal. Considering what is at stake - the public's right to meaningful information and to our right - no, our civic responsibility - to oversee our government - you should have no problem defeating this proposal.

If not, consider the following aspect which was not pursued on that forum:

The municipality called the Town of Wethersfield has not developed an adequate, secure, public, information infrastructure necessary to go beyond the hardcopy minutes on which we presently rely - and which we are satisfied with - for a healthy level of detail about the proceedings of our local government at all of its levels.

We in Wethersfield have not seen the Town create consistently high quality recordings of our boards and commissions, for the benefit of the public. We don't want to do without - nor should that even be considered as an option. We want the recordings to be of a quality that even one of our hearing or visually compromised citizens can appreciate, both in audio and video.

We in Wethersfield have not seen our Town produce consistently high quality and reliable broadcasts of our boards and commissions, for the benefit of the public. The Silas Deane Middle School apparently has A-V capabilities than our Town Hall has not. Are only the non-voting children allowed to use and benefit from technology while the voting public is deprived of information which it needs to learn about the workings of its government?

We in Wethersfield have not seen our Town produce a method to catalog and preserve those recordings. We have not learned of any effort to preserve these recordings for a meaningful period be it for 5, 7 or 10 years duration. By today's standards, tapes are a poor and vulnerable medium. Are backups onto more durable optical media made of all the recordings before staff or citizens are allowed to access a duplicate?

We in Wethersfield have not seen our Town produce easy, public access to these recordings, even those of questionable quality, if they can even be found. Apparently there is no dedicated, secure computer terminal on which a few members of the public can access the preserved recordings in the library, let alone in Town Hall proper. And to think, Cox Cable offers movies on demand to a multitude!

We in Wethersfield have not addressed the issue of how long these recordings are to be kept for the benefit of posterity - of all places -in the oldest Towne of Connecticut. We keep sifting the sands beneath our feet looking for artifacts and information to further elaborate our old history, and yet, the Town allows this "history in the making" to decay and disappear due to neglect, lack of oversight, lack of hindsight or lack of foresight.

Until you, the Town leaders and your administration and its town staff, place a much, much higher value on the adult education of our voting, taxpaying populace, you cannot afford to strip the flesh or viscera from our minutes. You need to be paving the roads of our municipal information highways and byways into the 21st century.

Apparently, lacking a statutory definition of "minutes", some are willing to twist the intent of the Freedom of Information Act to their own convenience. And to think, this is all to make the responsibility of following the FOIA a little easier and maybe a little cheaper.

Please, rise to level of a patriot.

The burdens of our republic are worth the effort to keep the public informed.

The burden of public office - which you have taken upon yourselves - includes accepting the comments, advice, and the oversight of the public who put you where you are today. Accept that yoke with dignity. Delight in doing the job well, and not necessarily easier or more expeditiously

Please keep the format and content of the minutes of OUR Town Council meetings, and those of OUR other boards and commissions in the way they have been in the recent past.

Please defeat this proposal - you owe it to the public - we the people - citizens of Wethersfield.

Thank you.

[LadyJane]

footdoc said:

Wethersfield Public Schools have been closed today!

You are required to clear snow from sidewalks within 24 hours after the snow has stopped.

You are required to de-ice your sidewalks within 12 hours (daylight) after the precipitation has stopped.

On that note they should do something about people with plows that push the snow on their neighbors lawns. The snowplow drivers should note those people with plows that leave the piles of pushed snow in the road also, it shouldn't be allowed. I have seen many instances around town of this.

[Dr.Ken Sokolowski]

Reason and the Public prevailed:

The Council decided to "disapprove" the proposal to use the "Rocky Hill-styled format" of minutes for its boards and commisions. I.e., the effectively vetoed their own proposal.

What next?

More.....later!

[oldetowne]

Congratulations and thanks to Dr. Ken and others for keeping this issue out in the open.

[standish]

footdoc said:

Reason and the Public prevailed:

The Council decided to "disapprove" the proposal to use the "Rocky Hill-styled format" of minutes for its boards and commisions. I.e., the effectively vetoed their own proposal...

Hooray for participatory democracy! However, let's not be so harsh on Council: They did the right thing after counsel and consideration, which is how the process is supposed to work.

[Dr.Ken Sokolowski]

Council Reverses Itself
"Disapproves" Proposal for Minutes Format Change

Ken Sokolowski

Wethersfield, CT
Jan. 4, 2006

In a stunning reversal, the Town Council "disapproved" their own original motion to use the Rocky Hill "Lite" version of minutes for boards and commissions. It did so without removing the motion 'from the table' where it had been placed during the last Council meeting on Dec. 19, 2005.

The Hartford Courant, given the chance to attend last night, missed one of the most significant meetings of the history of the Wethersfield Town Council.

Two of their reporters who routinely "cover" Wethersfield events were unavailable to attend the meeting. Although the Courant had been additionally alerted to the importance of the meeting and the chief proposal, it did not send another reporter.

The Hartford Courant published nothing about the meeting in this morning's edition. A reporter from the Wethersfield Post however did attend.

As he entered the auditorium of the Silas Deane Middle School, where the Council has been meeting due to the prolonged renovations of the adjacent Wethersfield Town Hall, the Chair of the Council, Russell A. Morin, remarked that "the decision has been made not to adopt the proposal" to use, what has been called, the "Rocky Hill format" of the minutes for meetings.

When informed of the effort on the part of the public to prepare for that evening's public comments, he agreed that the public "has to do what it has to do."

And the public did.

Though the winter storm kept all but about a dozen members of the public from attending, half of those chose to speak, eloquently at times, during "public comments".

Among those who spoke were former Councilor and former Mayor Kitch Breen Czernicki, former Councilor Donna Hemmann, the webmaster of Wethersfield.net Dr.Ken Sokolowski, the webmaster of MyRockyHill.com Scott Coleman, and a member of the Wethersfield Taxpayers Association Robert Young (speaking personally and not on the behalf of the WTXA). Czernicki offered to email a copy of her remarked to the Town Clerk, Dolores Sassano.

Czernicki stressed the value and importance of detailed minutes to not only the public but also to new members of boards and commissions. The proposed condensed format would not provide the context and continuity that a new member needs to appreciate the proceedings which led to the votes on motions. She urged the defeat of the proposal. Hemmann too placed a high value on the continuation of the traditional minutes format.

Sokolowski spoke of descendants of the Mayflower, the American Revolution and members of the Armed Forces - still living in Wethersfield - who have contributed to the protection and preservation of the public's right to know and its right to oversee their elected officials. He pointed out that the Town of Wethersfield does not presently have the information technology infrastructure which would allow the use of abbreviated reporting of "motions and votes" in the guise of "minutes" unless they were supplemented with easily accessible, high quality preserved digital copies of councilors' and citizens' remarks. He urged members of the Council to "rise to level of patriots," by defeating this proposal for "eviscerated" minutes.

Coleman has been contending with the Town of Rocky Hill for access to information which should have been available and provided in a timely fashion under the Freedom of Information Act. He expressed the hope that Wethersfield would not take the path that Rocky Hill had taken. He offered the Council a copy of his remarks rather than just reading them.

Coleman also provided information to the Town Manager, Bonnie Therrien, about an expandable, versatile software program which might help Wethersfield comply with the FOIA. The software, which he described as e-Minutes, would allow a real-time production of the minutes and would allow Councilors to correct their remarks and would allow the public to addend theirs, all online.

Additionally, Attorney Barbara Ruhe read a letter from her father, George A Ruhe who was stuck out of state due to the weather. He had followed the developments leading up to this meeting via the Internet and emailed his remarks for her. He through her urged the council not to adopt the proposal. She agreed too.

Wethersfield resident, Michael Cuddigan, quoted in an earlier Courant article, spoke in favor of maintaining the format of minutes which had been used prior to the Dec. 12, 2005, meeting. He noted that, apparently on her own, the Town Clerk, Dolores Sassano, had again greatly condensed the minutes for that meeting, which minutes were to be rubber stamped by the Council last night, two weeks later. He wondered why the Council had not raised any concern about the already reduced minutes of the Dec. 5th meeting, but instead approved them pro forma on Dec. 19.

Unlike some meetings of the Town Council, the public did not leave having made their concerns known. All stayed to see how it would play out.

And then the dominoes began to fall.

One by one each of the majority Councilors said, in so many words or less, that they could no longer support the change to Rocky Hill-styled minutes. Councilor Fortunato, moved to "disapprove" the proposal, which had never been taken from the table, and by unanimous vote the proposal died. Some members of the public likened this sudden reversal of the Council's position as having experienced "whiplash".

One final surprise: the Council voted to table the unapproved minutes of their meeting of the Dec. 19, 2005 and the directed the Sassano to bring the minutes up to the standard which Wethersfielders have said that they wanted and needed.

[ronette]

That's good news about the Town Council rejecting the change in minutes format. Thanks to the residents who spoke up at the meeting and at this website.

[Dr.Ken Sokolowski]

I posted the following paragraph on another website where I have created a chronological recollection of the concerns, observations, and events of the last 2+ weeks in this matter. Credit is deserved to Bill for making this forum available: ['_' added to cripple here]

A local, on-line forum - http://wethersfield.proboa_rds26.com - served an important web-log function for the real-time collection of several of the entries and as a repository for them. It also served as a convenient point of focus for the broadcasting of information and alerts to the citizenry and to our elected leaders, our appointed administrators, and the media at both the local and state level.

Thanks again, Bill.

[Wethersfield.com]

Thanks Doc.... You could put a link to your chronological recollections... it is important that everyone knows..