Top 10 of 2021: #8 – Republicans Propose Repeal of Most Freedom of Information Ordinances

Republican Mayor Erin Stewart’s new 12-3 Republican City Council proposed repealing most of what is left of the city’s Freedom of Information Ordinances in December.

City Republicans placed some very brazen stocking stuffers on the Council agenda just before the 2021 holiday season, significant ordinance changes that could be approved within the short two weeks after start of the new year.

One of those lumps of coal is a proposal to eliminate most of what remains of the city’s Freedom of Information ordinance, that is what is left of it after a change approved early in Stewart’s administration that made it more difficult for the public to access public documents.

As in every year, there was so much news that the New Britain Progressive covered 2021 that choosing our traditional Top Ten stories of the year is difficult. But this proposal’s significance, and its likelihood to continue as a news story in 2022, made this story #8 of the New Britain Progressive‘s Top Ten Stories of 2021.

Republicans Propose Repeal of Most Freedom of Information Ordinances

December 7, 2021

New Britain Republicans are proposing to eliminate most of what remains of the city’s Freedom of Information ordinance.

Ald. Robert Smedley (R-4), the lead Republican on Republican Mayor Erin Stewart’s Republican-dominated City Council, has proposed eliminating nearly all of the remaining provisions of the ordinance requiring access to public meetings and public records.

After changes made early in Stewart’s time as mayor, the city Freedom of Information ordinance was reduced to mainly offering the same public access to information that the state Freedom of Information law already provides. It is those remaining provisions that the new Republican proposal would revoke.

What was widely viewed as the most consequential part of the city’s Freedom of Information ordinance was repealed, in 2015, during Mayor Erin Stewart’s first term of office. Until then, city ordinances allowed for the public to get up to forty pages of public documents per day for no charge. If someone wanted public records of greater than forty pages, they could come back the next day for another forty pages — for up to 400 pages in any thirty day period.

The city Freedom of Information ordinance was enacted in 2008 during the administration of Republican Ex-Mayor Timothy Stewart. Prior to the enacting of that ordinance, NB Politicus reported that, “The public’s right to know has become a surprisingly controversial issue … putting the Republican Mayor at odds with the Democratic City Council.”

NB Politicus noted, in that 2008 report, that,

the Council adopted an ordinance without the Mayor’s signature that requires city departments to release records and information in a timely manner when requested to do so by members of the Common Council. The ordinance apparently stemmed from some foot dragging on information access at City Hall. In one instance, Democrats sought information for legislators researching data for a bill that would create a Health Care Partnership Act, enabling cities to join the state health insurance pool and reduce insurance costs. When a legislative aide working for House Majority Leader Chris Donovan (D-Meriden) asked the city Finance Department about the number of city employees and health premium costs he was promptly turned down and told the request would have to be approved by the Mayor.

NB Politicus noted, in March of 2008, that,

a second ordinance has been proposed by Ward 4 Councillor Phil Sherwood … that would essentially establish a local Freedom of Information act. The FOI law and the 37-year-old state FOI Commission is the arbiter of all complaints at the local and state level. But Sherwood and others on the Council feel that open meetings and access to public records need to be clearly spelled out at the local level.

NB Politicus‘ 2008 report noted that, “The Stewart Administration didn’t help itself when the Board of Finance and Taxation, deliberating over the city budget, kicked New Britain Herald Reporter Rick Guinness out of its meeting. … These recent actions are raising the possibility that the Stewart administration is skirting if not violating the spirit and letter of Freedom of Information laws.”

New Britain’s Freedom of Information ordinance was enacted and amended later in 2008. The provision allowing up to 400 free pages of public information per month was still a part of the city ordinances (local laws) until it was revoked in 2015.

Critics argue that change has since negatively affected transparency of city hall and has limited the public’s right to know public information under the administration Mayor Erin Stewart.

In 2020, when the New Britain Progressive sought public records about Mayor Erin Stewart’s then-former head of community services, who had been accused of stealing grant moneys that were given to the city, Stewart’s administration said it would charge $126 before the newspaper could have access to that public information.

The 2015 ordinance change also added a provision that narrowly defined who is able to avail themselves of the exemption for “indigent” persons from fees for access to public information. That part of the ordinance would remain in the city ordinances under the new Republican proposal.

The Republican proposal would also keep a provision that allows the public to have, without charge, “a single copy of the agenda of meeting of any public agency.”

The proposal is on the agenda of the December 8, 2021 City Council meeting.