VIDEO - Recent Council discussion regarding prescription dropbox

As brought up by the public during the Public Question and Answer agenda item at the May 25th Town Council meeting:

Drop-box supporters slam police chief

As published in the Record Journal on Friday March 15, 2013

By Andrew Ragali
Record-Journal staff
aragali@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224
Twitter:@AndyRagz

WALLINGFORD – Supporters of a drop box for unused medications at the Police Department are criticizing Police Chief Douglas Dortenzio’s position that it’s up to residents to take personal responsibility and dispose of medications on their own.

A founding member of the Coalition for a Better Wallingford, Ken Welch, has advocated for the drop box as a way to counter prescription drug abuse.

Dortenzio said on Wednesday that the safest way to dispose of a medication is to put it out with the trash.

“I can’t be a substitute for responsible citizens,” he said.

Welch responded with harsh words Thursday, saying “I can’t believe this guy is a police chief.”

Welch disagreed with Dortenzio’s statement that personal responsibility is the key to disposing of unwanted prescription drugs.

“That comment blows my mind,” Welch said. “His value system is affecting his job.”

Dortenzio said Thursday that he didn’t want to get into a war of words.

“I’m not going to get into a mudslinging contest,” he said.

Dortenzio said the department supports disposal of unwanted medication, though not the drop box.

“A $1,000 trash can is a poor substitute for personal responsibility,” he said.

Welch had many criticisms of Dortenzio’s position, including the assertion that the police station lobby is too small for a drop box and would present handicapped-access issues.

The state Department of Consumer Protection, which oversees the medication drop box program, requires the box to be located in the lobby of any police station that participates. Welch said that lobby is not wheelchair accessible to begin with because there are stairs in the lobby. There is an elevator, which provides access to the lobby.

Dortenzio also said that parking would be an issue. The department’s lot is small, and people looking to drop off medications might have a hard time finding parking, Dortenzio said Wednesday.

“What, are 30 people going to show up at the same time?” Welch said.

Welch said that the only issue Dortenzio could possibly have with the medication drop box is the time police officers must take to empty and document the medication inside the box.

“Mr. Welch’s point about labor being involved is dead on,” Dortenzio said.

In a nearby town

Southington, with a population similar to Wallingford’s, adopted a medication drop box program in December. Since then, about 400 pounds of medication have been secured. Southington Police Sgt. Jeff Dobratz said that the box is typically emptied once a week.

Department of Consumer Protection procedures call for medication to be collected based on usage and that the boxes be checked weekly.

After medication is collected from the box, Dobratz said, it’s weighed, sealed and stored in the evidence room until “every so often we dispose of it.”

A case report must be filed every time the box is emptied. Dobratz said that the department has created a “generic boilerplate report,” in which the officer only has to enter the date, time and weight.

In all, the entire process of clearing out the box and filing a report takes about 15 minutes, Dobratz said.

Dortenzio said the staffing at the Police Department has shrunk significantly in the past two decades. He said having to devote staff to the medication drop box wouldn’t be wise.

“As a manager, I have to keep an eye on these things,” he said.

Dortenzio’s position also came under fire from members of the Town Council.

“The bottom line is, the chief of police is a personal disappointment to me in that he won’t do something that is easy,” said Town Councilor Nick Economopoulos. “I’m sure he’s going to come up with a 100 different reasons why it’s difficult.”

A majority of the council supports the medication drop box. Councilors made that clear during a meeting Tuesday when Welch brought up the issue. It was tabled so councilors could obtain more information.

“I disagree wholeheartedly with the mayor and police chief,” said Town Councilor John LeTourneau, who added that he doesn’t understand why other towns can successfully employ the drop box but Wallingford can’t.

Democratic Town Councilor Jason Zandri, who is running for mayor, potentially against longtime incumbent Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr., said a medication drop box “is a very simple thing to have.”

“I can’t imagine why we can’t do this,” he said.

Zandri said he’s looking into a way of working around the mayor’s decision-making power on the issue. Dickinson supports Dortenzio’s position.

The council can pass a resolution to make the drop box mandatory by creating an ordinance. According to the Town Charter, seven of nine council votes can override the mayor if he disapproves of a council passed ordinance.

Zandri said getting the seven affirmative votes would be an issue, though.

The mayor’s view

On Thursday, Dickinson stood behind Dortenzio.

“He’s the one who knows the way the department functions,” said Dickinson, who added that there should be “respect for the chief ’s decision.”

“If he feels it will absorb more time and effort than justifiable,” the drop box is unnecessary, Dickinson said.

Dickinson said that concentrating on the medication drop box as the town’s only answer to drug abuse issues isn’t wise.

“It’s one of the things that can be done, but it’s hardly the program,” he said. “This isn’t the only way to deal with things.”

While there may be other answers to drug abuse problems, like Dickinson’s suggestion of expanding the drug take-back program the Police Department takes part in twice yearly, it’s the lack of support from Dortenzio which angers Welch the most.

“His whole mission statement is based on getting the public to support him, but when the public needs support, they’re on their own,” Welch said.

“That’s not going to fly.”

SNOW - Much done, much still to be done; Blizzard cleanup efforts to continue through weekend

As published in the Record Journal on Friday February 15, 2013

By Andrew Ragali
Record-Journal staff
aragali@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224
Twitter:@AndyRagz

While the bulk of the blizzard cleanup effort has been completed in Meriden, Wallingford, Southington and Cheshire, crews are still working to ensure that roads are safe and businesses can operate normally, officials said Thursday.

Bob Bass, Meriden’s director of public works, said he expects work downtown to be done by this morning. Bass said large snow blowers, dump trucks and pay loaders will have worked through the night “if everything goes right,” bringing snow piled in parking lots and along the side of the street to the Hub. The effort, he said, will bring a sense of normalcy back to the downtown area, which has been difficult to navigate since the storm.

“We’ve certainly passed the worst and we’re on the upswing,” said Meriden Mayor Michael S. Rohde.

Rohde said crews will continue widening roads, clearing sightlines and cleaning around fire hydrants and water drains elsewhere in the city.

“Everybody’s focused on that,” he said, adding that people in many neighborhoods are working together to clear fire hydrants on their own. Rohde said he appreciates the effort, and hopes it will continue. “We’re trying to get the word out to people.”

Rohde is happy that with the hardest part of the clean-up effort over, he’s getting appreciative, not angry, emails, as he was earlier in the week.

“A lot of people have been very patient and understanding,” Rohde said. Some haven’t been as patient, throwing snowballs and making obscene gestures to plow truck drivers, he said. “I understand people are frustrated.”

With temperatures helping the snow removal process, Rohde said he thinks the city will be settled into its normal routine by next week.

In Southington, Town Manager Garry Brumback is “counting on Mother Nature to kick in.”

He said the cleanup effort will be complete by the end of the weekend, with “a few residual things” possibly left over next week. Today and Saturday, Brumback said, crews will concentrate on clearing bus stop areas and a few snow drifts that are affecting driver sightlines.

Brumback said cleanup downtown began early Thursday morning, calling the work “snow removal, not just snow pushing.”

Brumback said pay loaders are dropping snow into dump trucks, which bring the snow to the bulky waste transfer station, a dump site approved by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

“(Today) we will finish up downtown and inspect all of the remaining bus stops and bus routes in order to make sure there are no issues with school next week,” Brumback said. There is no school in Southington Monday or Tuesday.

The Fire Department has brought in volunteers to clear hydrants, Brumback said. Jason Harnish and Patrick Walesky, from Company 1, assisted several elderly residents with removal of snow from their sidewalks.

“We expect to be able to resume normal operations following the Presidents Day holiday,” Brumback said.

Wallingford Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. and Director of Public Works Henry McCully could not be reached for comment Thursday. During Wednesday’s Town Council meeting, Dickinson said work crews would be busy.

“I would believe we’d be putting in 10 hour days in order to complete the task that still needs to be completed,” he said.

Jason Zandri, a town councilor, said Wednesday night that the Fire Department is asking residents to “help out the department” by uncovering buried hydrants.

Roads have been successfully widened in Cheshire, said Town Manager Michael Milone. Crews are concentrating on public parking lots that “had to be put aside” immediately after the blizzard because roads were the first priority.

Milone said parking lots will be the emphasis of the cleanup effort “for the next couple of days.”

Clearing water drains and fire hydrants is another priority. Milone also said residents have until Sunday to clear their sidewalks.

By Monday, he’s confident the town will have completed the cleaning up.

The end of the cleanup effort will likely be a welcome sight for public works employees. In Meriden, Bass said employees slept at the public works garage several nights, and are just now getting the chance to go home and “get reinvigorated.”

With the rest, “they’re pretty fresh now,” Bass said, and ready to tackle cleanup downtown today.

Following up regarding Scrapping light poles

There was a story in the Wednesday October 24th edition of the Record Journal titled Scrapping light poles: Is it such a bright idea? which I have cross posted to my Wallingford Politico blog.

I started the follow up yesterday with my “MY TAKE - Scrapping light poles: Is it such a bright idea?” post and it seems there’s more to discuss.

I followed up this morning again with Purchasing Agent Sal Amadeo by phone to formally let him know that Public Utilities Director George Adair indicated to me that he is scrapping all the fixtures working or not. As he indicated to me and to the Record Journal:

“We (the Wallingford Electric Division) don’t consider them suitable. We (the Wallingford Electric Division) do not want to perpetuate the use of them. We (the Wallingford Electric Division) consider them truly to be scrap.”

I then asked Purchasing Agent Sal Amadeo should that assessment, that the ornamental fixtures being taken down were of no value, been made by the Public Utilities Director or by the town’s Purchasing Agent.

He indicated that normally as part of his duties as the Purchasing Agent that he would otherwise handle “surplus property disposition” whether the decision be to recycle the materials or to try to sell them. He also indicated that to find out any further, specific details around the present situation that I should follow up with Mayor Dickinson.

I placed a call to Mayor Dickinson and he pretty much concurred with Public Utilities Director George Adair that the ornamental fixtures being taken down were of no value.

I countered asking, “perhaps no value to us as we did not have any desire to use them anywhere in town (and whether we could or not is in dispute; they do function but they are difficult to maintain) but beyond that, how could we automatically assume that no one anywhere couldn’t?

While I didn’t use this example in my conversation with the Mayor, I have sold many of my old computers after I was finished with them. They were no longer of any use to me as I had reached a point of doing more with them than those systems could handle. Having said that, for someone that wanted to use them for just email and some word processing, those “no value to me” as a high, power user, systems had value to those users and I often could resell an $800.00 system for $150.00 to $200.00.

So I am still following up.

To me, I do not understand how Wallingford reached a decision that these ornamental fixtures being taken down were of no value because the person that normally handles this work, the town Purchasing Agent, did not perform their responsibility as it was not requested of him.

I do not know how the Public Utilities Director reached his decision and based on what practice and whether or nor decisions like this were done in the past.

At this point I need more information to understand why this occurred the way it did and I will need to continue to ask and follow up.

I expect more to come. Stay tuned.

Simpson Court / Private Downtown Parking Lot issue returns to this upcoming Town Council meeting.

You might not know it from this agenda item but the issue of Wallingford paying for the private parking lot at the rear of the businesses at Simpson Court uptown is going to be discussed.

8.     Discussion regarding:

        Report from the Town Attorney on the Simpson Parking Lot Wall
        Possible options for the Town to pursue

The “Possible options for the Town to pursue” regarding the “Report from the Town Attorney on the Simpson Parking Lot Wall” is to apply for a state grant in the amount of $500,000.00 to “improve the Simpson parking area.”

Before I continue let me define this.

Parking in that lot to patronize a business is business parking and would always be allowed. It is no different there than going to CVS as an example and parking in their lot.

Public parking is to park there and go elsewhere. If you go to CVS and park your car and then get into a friend’s car and go to Hartford they could feasibly tow you because you are not using the parking as it is intended which is the patronization of that business. There is no PUBLIC parking permitted there.

Right now for 80% of that rear lot uptown you can park if you wish and walk all over uptown and downtown without being towed.

You could also park at Town Hall and do the same.

You can park at the Credit Union and do the same.

You can parking behind the divider at the rear of Bank of America and do the same.

You can park in the lot behind the train station where Brother’s Restaurant used to be and do the same.

All those lots allow for public parking as those lots are owned by the Town of Wallingford

So with that better defined, on to the details:

So the bottom line?

The business put up $20,000.00 and get reimbursed 50% so their skin in this game is really $10,000.00. The original lease discussion was 30 years so we are asking them to invest into their own property $334.00 a year for their share of $500,000.00 worth of improvements. They would also get 30 years of operational support and maintenance.

If I were a business owner you couldn’t get me signed up for this deal fast enough.

I am a Town Councilor charged with making sure your tax dollars are spent in the wisest and most prudent fashion and this is far from it.

You as a taxpayer (in this case taxes to the state and then via grant support) are putting in $500,000.00 for the use of these lots for public parking.

I think the residents were loud and clear at the referendum – do not spend tax dollars for the benefit of the private parking lot owners (mainly) and for public parking there.

I won’t support this but I will be in the minority I am sure. I will never support the spending of tax dollars in this manner. I could consider it if someone is providing a case study that shows public parking there is needed (number one) and where the owners of the property are putting in 50% of the costs at least (number two). Without that there is no justification.

You’d need to start with a case study of demand and need and there isn’t one; this is a desire to simply do this and I do not understand the directive to do so.

The private property owners there already get the benefit of some maintenance and snow removal provided on the taxpayer dime as they do not have to take out of pocket money from their rents to pay for this themselves like every other business owner that is responsible for their own parking areas.

It is a mystery to me how a supposedly fiscally responsible and conservative administration continues to champion an effort towards this when it is something that the tax payers have already spoke out against at referendum.

What IS their motivation for this? There is no demand for PUBLIC parking like this at this level at THAT location.

If this passes the Town Council, these same fiscally responsible and conservative individuals will be crying over the $30,000.00 that will need to be spent, AGAIN, on a referendum vote because the residents will most likely petition for the right to vote this down. If the past results are indicative to future events they will get enough signatures and it will happen.

If we are eligible for this state grant money it can be spent on the $200,000.00 price tag over on the Wooding-Caplan property where we are creating short tem (supposedly) parking to alleviate the out of pocket tax burden to the residents. Additionally, we could take the remaining $300,000.00 and spend it on the other downtown lots that the town already owns and fix them up with repaving and better lighting.

We wont spend the money on all the lots we already own (mentioned above) but we keep bring this effort back before the Council to try to ram it through when the people do not want it

Why?

Of position and pay - the position and salary of the Mayor of Wallingford

Stephen Knight has written and posted his bi-weekly “FROM WALLINGFORD” column over at the Record Journal; this week’s submission from him was titled “Power and pay”

I have written a letter to the Editor response which I hope will be printed Tuesday or Wednesday.

As it was only 300 words and there was more to say I have also blogged some additional facts and commentary over on the Wallingford Patch website in a post titled “Of position and pay - the position and salary of the Mayor of Wallingford”

Wallingford: ashamed – my letter to the editor regarding the veterans and the Wallingford ShowMobile

As published in the Letters to the Editor section of the Record Journal on Sunday May 27, 2012

Editor: Regarding the recent issue with Mayor Dickinson’s decision to deny the use of the showmobile to the veterans, I came to the Wallingford Town Council meeting expecting this to be solely a cost issue where Dickinson didn’t want to expend additional funds. I came prepared to make that payment to the town as I received pledges of a donation as part of the effort to resolve this issue and get the veterans use of the equipment.

The end result, when I specifically asked the mayor: “if there is a way to remove the additional financial component of using the showmobile for the ceremony, can the vets get the permission to use it?” — was that Dickinson responded “no.” His reason was “he doesn’t believe using the showmobile as a reviewing stand is the proper use for the stage” — but why does that matter? If the vets want to use it, and it is going to otherwise sit in mothballs for the day unused, and we had people willing to make the donation to remove additional monetary burden from the town, then why not let them use it?

The veterans served this country, protected its freedoms, and preserved this way of life we have today. All they asked for extra this day was the use of the showmoblie that is otherwise going unused. At the time they served, they were asked to give their everything — and, if needed, their lives. “All gave some, some gave all,” but Wallingford will not lend them use of a portable stage, now that they are in their 70s, to have them be a little more comfortable on a day we are supposed to be paying thanks to them and remembering the fallen that never returned.

That is not my Wallingford — and I am ashamed.

My follow up email to the Council Chairman regarding the denial of use of the Show Mobile to the Veterans Memorial Committee for the Memorial Day services on May 28th at Doolittle Park

Please see the prior post at Letter to Mayor Dickinson from the Veterans Memorial Committee regarding his decision to not to let the use the Show Mobile for the Memorial Day services on May 28th at Doolittle Park for the details.

I sent the following via email to Council Chairman Parisi:

 

Mr. Chairman,

It is too late to add this item for discussion to the agenda formally but I believe we can waive rule 5 to add it for discussion.

If I am remembering this correctly then I would like to do this at tomorrow's meeting.

If this cannot be done via rule 5 please let me know and I will speak about it during public question and answer as a resident if necessary.

Thank you

Jason Zandri
Wallingford Town Councilor

 

We’ll see how I make out.

If this is something that concerns you or that you might support I encourage you to come to the Wallingford Town Hall tomorrow Tuesday May 22nd at 6:30PM for the regular Town Council meeting.

Letter to Mayor Dickinson from the Veterans Memorial Committee regarding his decision to not to let the use the Show Mobile for the Memorial Day services on May 28th at Doolittle Park

This is not an item on the agenda but I will be bringing it up at the Council meeting on Tuesday the 22nd to discuss as the Memorial Day services are less than a week of way.

More lead time would have been nice but I just got this via email tonight and they might not have gotten much lead time on this either.

 

WALLINGFORD VETERANS MEMORIAL COMMITTEE

May 17, 2012

Honorable William W. Dickinson, Jr.
Mayor, Town of Wallingford
45 South Main St.
Wallingford, CT 06492

Dear Mayor Dickinson,

I am writing to you on behalf of the Veterans Memorial Committee. The committee recently had a discussion regarding your decision not to let us use the Show Mobile for our Memorial Day services on May 28^th at Doolittle Park.

We used the Show Mobile two years ago for our services. It not only gave our older veterans and members a shady place to sit with a flat, roomier surface to walk on, it lent a more “finished” appearance to the service.

We would ask that you reconsider your decision, as we feel this is a justified use for the Show Mobile, and there is overtime already being paid for chairs and podium to be put out, police services, etc. We appreciate all your support for the veterans over the years in Wallingford, and feel this small investment will produce a better experience for our aging veterans.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Elise M. Gallup
Secretary
303 Bassett Road
North Haven, CT 06473
(203) 605-8580

cc: Patricia Lizotte, Chairman, Veterans Memorial Committee
Wallingford Town Council

July 4 display again raises controversy

Fishbein balks at town’s different treatment of fireworks and ‘Celebrate’

As published in the Record Journal Thursday April 12, 2012

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225

Dickinson Fishbein Zandri

Photos courtesy of the Record Journal

WALLINGFORD — One of the town councilors who helped launch a fundraising effort to save the annual Fourth of July fireworks celebration claims the town doesn’t treat all nonprofit organizations it works with equally.

Republican Town Councilor Craig Fishbein said that the fireworks are being treated differently from events such as Wallingford Symphony Orchestra concerts and Celebrate Wallingford, which is put on by Wallingford Center Inc., the downtown business advocacy group. The town budget allocates $8,500 for an outdoor summer symphony concert that Fishbein said draws only hundreds of people, while the fireworks celebration draws more than 10,000 and receives no funding. For Celebrate Wallingford, Wallingford Center Inc. is able to contract with vendors, Fishbein said.

Fishbein and Democratic Town Councilor Jason Zandri founded the nonprofit Wallingford Fireworks Fund in 2010 after the town dropped funding for the show from its budget. They’ve butted heads with Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. during the planning for this year’s celebration. Zandri and Fishbein raised several issues during a council meeting Tuesday.

For the last two years, Zandri has negotiated with vendors. He said the arrangement allowed a certain flexibility on costs, through discounts from the vendor, and room to accommodate last-minute donations that could improve the show. But this year that process is being handled by the Parks and Recreation Department.

“The town doesn’t contribute one red cent, yet the mayor feels the (donors) should have no part in the coordination,” Fishbein said. “We don’t want total control ... we’re willing to work with them.”

Liz Landow, executive director of Wallingford Center Inc., said the events are treated differently because the town, not the fireworks fund, ultimately puts on the show, even if the fund provides the money. She said Wallingford Center Inc. wasn’t getting special treatment.

“It’s a Wallingford Center production,” she said of Celebrate Wallingford. “It’s put on by Wallingford Center; we hold the insurance. We have the freedom because of the way it was established.”

Dickinson, a Republican, has maintained that the town must handle the purchasing process for the fireworks, and said that comparisons to Celebrate Wallingford aren’t fair.

“The fireworks are clearly put on by the town,” he said. “For Celebrate Wallingford, Wallingford Center provides insurance; they are the hosts of that. They are a separate entity from the town that provides all the groundwork.”

Several members of the Wallingford Center board have Republican ties, including Republican councilors John Le-Tourneau and Rosemary Rascati and former Republican Councilor Stephen Knight. Landow is Rascati’s daughter. But Zandri said he doesn’t believe politics plays a role in the perceived different treatment of the fireworks and Celebrate Wallingford.

“I like to look above and beyond that ... I think it’s not politically motivated,” Zandri said.

Zandri said that he hasn’t thought about the fund taking total sponsorship of the event, but said that if he is continually denied input, it’s an option he may consider.

“I suppose there’s ways to do it,” he said. “But it’s a manpower issue. Right now it’s just me, my father and Craig (Fishbein). It’s hard to say it, but if I have to go that route someday, maybe I will.” Jason Zandri’s father, Geno Zandri, a former six-term Democratic councilor, helps organize fireworks fundraising.

The fund would have to get permission from the town to use the school grounds and pay directly for the cost of the town services including police, fire and public works, and the fireworks. Currently, the town makes the payments and arrangements after receiving a check from the nonprofit.

Democratic Town Councilor John Sullivan said that he thinks Fishbein, Zandri and Dickinson need to sort out their differences, and not at a council meeting.

“We have two sides working toward a common goal,” he said. “They need to sit down, communicate and work together.”

Mayor Dickinson will be holding a meeting to release his proposed budget in the Mayor's Conference Room at 3:30 P.M. this afternoon, Monday, April 2, 2012.

I just got the following email from the Town Council Secretary at 9:30AM Monday morning (this morning):

> The Mayor's Office just telephoned me to say that regarding the FY

> 2012-2013 Town of Wallingford budget, the Mayor will be holding a

> meeting to release his proposed budget in the Mayor's Conference Room at

> 3:30 P.M. this afternoon, Monday, April 2, 2012.

My response was as follows (at around 10AM when I read the email):

Hi Sandy,

Please note that I will be unable to attend; a five hour advanced notice is not enough to allow me to schedule time off from work even if I worked in town. To request time from work to try to attend to meetings, sessions and events requires a little more lead time than this.

Due to this situation I will not be able to attend the press conference. I will plan to have someone pick up the budget materials for me sometime tomorrow.

Thank you for the notification; I hope that in the future a little more planning could be made to accommodate people that wish to be at meetings such as these that work from "9 to 5."

Please forward my concerns to the Mayor's office and I will try to phone later today as I am able to communicate the same.

Thank you

Jason Zandri

It is unfortunate that there is so little communication and schedule planning that something as important as this is dropped on the Council and the public like a sneak attack. I am sure there is little to say and to do at a press conference for the general public or even the Council but a maximum of six hours forewarning is the wrong way to go about it in my opinion. 

What does the Mayor of Wallingford earn?

A number of search hits have come into my two blogs (this one and Wallingford Politico) regarding the salary of Mayor William Dickinson of Wallingford as people are looking for this information.

http://www.woodingcaplan.com/images/2008-2009%20Budget/2008-2009_Salalry_detail.pdf from the Wooding-Caplan Citizens Group site provides a quick review of the Mayor's salary detail

The Mayor's salary was $73,140.00 in 2009 and unless I am mistaken he's refused a raise since so I would believe it is still the same. I can get a more up to date posting once I have the new personnel details out in the upcoming budget.

What you can see is that the Mayor's administrative aide makes nearly what he does at $67,219.00 (again - as of the 2009 salary data).

The town's adopted budget for 2011 - 2012 is available at http://www.town.wallingford.ct.us/images/customer-files//AdoptedBudgetFY12.PDF but I do not see the salary detail there.

I will see if I can get a hold of it to post.

More thoughts on the regional property database and State Supreme Court case, Commissioner of Public Safety v. Freedom of Information Commission.

As a follow up to the Record Journal story Mayor backs regional database, but without property data (cross posted to my blog) and my response follow up on my Town Council page where I offered my own take on the subject and just how much information is already out there, I have been discussing this with a number of people to get their thoughts, feedback and input.

On person I had an email exchange with offered to me a link to the SUMMARY OF COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC SAFETY VS. FOIC which I am going to review. (A quick “thank you” to them for their thoughts and these points of reference; we have different mindsets here but I need that to remain as objective as possible).

The full majority opinion is available at the following link: http://www.jud.ct.gov/external/supapp/Cases/AROcr/CR301/301CR37.pdf. The concurrence is available here: http://www.jud.ct.gov/external/supapp/Cases/AROcr/CR301/301CR37A.pdf

One point that was made to me was “suppose you're a member of a protected class under the statute (also referenced in the Supreme Court decision I sent you). If I, as a private citizen or corporation, make your home address public, nobody can do anything to me as far as I know. If, however, I am the town assessor and make your address public, I'm violating state law.”

So I am going to see where my thoughts are to issues like that after I read the ruling. The bottom line here – I believe that currently I could walk into the town assessor's office right now and get data relative to those individuals that are part protected class under the statute (I might be mistaken – I am going to review and I will let you know). The town assessor is already making that information public if I walk in – if my thought process is correct, how is he or she suddenly in violation if that information is available online?

I suppose this is one of those situation where “the devil is in the details.”

I’ll have to look at it and follow up.