FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION
OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT
In the Matter of a Complaint by FINAL DECISION
Charles E. Zemko and Salem Citizens for an Informed Electorate,
Complainants
against Docket #FIC 90-406
Salem Board of Selectmen,
Respondent March 27, 1991
The above-captioned matter was heard as a contested case on February 5, 1991, at which time the complainants 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 1-18a(a), G.S.
2. By letter filed with this Commission on October 23, 1990, the complainants alleged that: a) at its special meeting of July 27, 1990, the respondent twice adjourned and reconvened the meeting, failed to specify in the orders of adjournment the time and place to which the meeting was adjourned, and failed to post on or near the door a notice of the time and place of adjournment; b) during an adjournment of its July 27 meeting, the respondent improperly discussed agency business.
3. In the letter of complaint, the complainants also alleged that the respondent did not comply with their written request to be notified in advance of meetings; however, this allegation is a subject of the complainants' complaint in contested case docket #FIC 90-300. Accordingly, the Commission declines to reexamine the issues under consideration in that case.
4. It is found that on July 27, 1990, the respondent conducted a special meeting, notice of which was properly posted at the town hall.
5. In the letter of complaint, Charles Zemko, the chairman of the complainant Salem Citizens for an Informed Electorate ("SCIE") stated that he had been unaware of the special meeting
Docket #FIC 90-406 Page 2
of July 27, 1990 until October 8, 1990 when he inspected those minutes at the town clerk's office.
6. At hearing, the complainants claimed that the thirty-day jurisdictional limitation for filing complaints should be extended essentially because Charles Zemko did not view the July 27 meeting minutes until October, 1990.
7. The Commission takes administrative notice of the record in contested case docket #FIC 90-300, and especially of the fact that on August 15, 1990, these same complainants filed a letter of complaint signed by Charles Zemko alleging that they had not received advance notice of the respondent's July 27, 1990 special meeting.
8. It is found that a member of the complainant SCIE, M. Urbanik, was in attendance at the August 6, 1990 regular meeting of the respondents wherein the minutes of the July 27 meeting of the respondent were approved.
9. It is also found that the minutes for the respondent's July 27, 1990 meeting were received at the town clerk's office on August 6, 1990.
10. At hearing, the respondent moved for dismissal of this case based on the Commission's lack of subject matter jurisdiction due to the complainants' failure to file their complaint within the thirty-day statutory period.
11. It is concluded that the Commission lacks subject matter jurisdiction in this case.
The following order by the Commission is hereby recommended on the basis of the record concerning the above-captioned complaint.
1. The complaint is hereby dismissed.
Approved by order of the Freedom of Information Commission at its regular meeting of March 27, 1991.
Tina C. Frappier
Acting Clerk of the Commission
Docket #FIC 90-406 Page 3
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:
CHARLES E. ZEMKO AND SALEM CITIZENS FOR AN INFORMED ELECTORATE, INC.
228 Hartford Road
Salem, CT 06415
SALEM BOARD OF SELECTMEN
c/o John W. Butts, Esq.
P.O. Box 270
Colchester, CT 06415
Tina C. Frappier
Acting Clerk of the Commission