After taking heat from angry residents for participating in “scripted” meetings, city councilors Tuesday refused to discuss a pending Freedom of Information complaint in secret session or in public.
“Let the lawyers handle it,” said Mayor William Stortz, one of those cited in the complaint by resident Jay Meisinger.
The city attorney, Edward Krawiecki, Jr, said his office wanted to lay out the city’s options in defending the claim in a closed-door executive session.
“There is a defense, and we intend to pursue it,” Krawiecki said, without elaborating.
Krawiecki said that because the council wouldn’t meet in executive session, municipal lawyers will have to talk to councilors individually.
Resident Maureen Carter expressed disgust with the council’s refusal to speak openly about the case then got up and walked out of the council chambers in protest.
Earlier, she had called the scripted sessions “an egregious act that cannot and should not be tolerated.”
She said that Zoppo’s script, which is akin to a detailed outline, makes it seem that the council engaged in “a stacked meeting” whose outcome was already decided.
The state’s Freedom of Information Commission is looking into the charge that Mayor William Stortz, Zoppo and other city councilors violated state open government laws by scripting municipal meetings ahead of time on at least two occasions, including a key session in the creation of the new downtown corporation.In the complaint, Meisinger argues that because of the open government violation, the council’s establishment of the Bristol Downtown Development Corp. and all of the nonprofit’s subsequent actions “might be null and void.”
City Councilor Art Ward, who was specifically excluded from possessing a script, said he would not participate in an executive session “mainly because I was not involved in it.”
Al Cianchetti, a city resident, told Zoppo, “You left him out of the loop.”
“He’s not part of the team, at his own request,” Zoppo responded.
Zoppo said she has “full faith and confidence” in the city’s attorneys so there was no need to talk about the case behind closed doors.
Tim Gamache said he didn’t mind that officials outlined the meeting ahead of time, calling it “simply good organization.”But, he said, he has “serious concerns” because it also appears the session’s outcome was orchestrated.
Joe Geladino, a Republican council candidate, called the council “a dysfunctional group” that is “not making the taxpayers happy.”
Krawiecki urged councilors and Stortz to say nothing about the pending case. He said it was not a gag order but he would prefer that officials remain mum while the case is before the state panel.
Stortz said the complaint will be investigated by the state and the FOI panel will make a determination on its merits.
“They will do a thorough, complete job to decide if something was done wrong,” the mayor said.
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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
6 comments:
I'm not surprised that the Mayor didn't want it to be heard during the council meeting. I'm sure he's quite embarassed by allowing Ellen to speak to him in the manner that she did - telling him to "practice in the mirror."
The entire council should be embarassed by allowing her to speak for them, write for them and instruct them how to behave during a public meeting. They represent their own council districts and should be intelligent enough to be able to formulate constructive sentences, questions and statements on their own during a meeting. It shouldn't require the efforts of Ellen to create a "detailed itinerary" with pre-written statements outlined for each person, especially our Mayor.
I found it very interesting that at the end of the City Council meeting, Maureen Carter was seen and heard talking to Art. She was asking him one very important question " Did I hit all of the points?" Listening to that question posed to Art, it was clear that he had given her a "script" to say under public participation at the meeting. I guess its ok for Art to script public participation and an FOI complaint. hmm must be a level playing field. Lets stick to the real issues (Bristol).
I don't have any idea whether Carter talked to Ward or not, but I can say, since I was sitting next to the podium, that the only script she had was a tiny piece of paper with no more than 12-15 words scrawled on it.
After the council meeting???? Maureen didn't stay for the entire council meeting.
Nice Try.
Try again - Maureen was NOT talking to Art Ward. Trying to discredit someone for speaking out is all to often a Zoppo attack!
Zoppo and the other violated open govt. and that is the fact.
Karen
No, Karen, it is not a "fact". It is nothing more than an unsubstantiated allegation made by a Ward supporter based on something he thinks he read in the newspaper. There never were any "secret meetings", and that is what the Freedom of Information Commission will find.
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