FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION

OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT

 

In the Matter of a Complaint by                        Final Decision

 

Cynthia C. Sniezak,

 

                                Complainant

 

                against                   Docket #FIC 92-67

 

Windsor Education Association Insurance Committee,

 

                                Respondent                          August 12, 1992

 

                The above-captioned matter was heard as a contested case on March 26, 1992, at which time the complainant and the Windsor Education Association Insurance Committee (hereinafter "WEAIC"), appeared, stipulated to certain facts and presented testimony, exhibits and argument on the complaint.

 

                The Windsor Board of Education (hereinafter "Board") also appeared and made a motion for intervenor status.  That motion was granted by the hearing officer.  The Board also requested permission to submit documents relating to the complaint to the Commission for in camera review.  The request for an in camera submission was granted by the hearing officer.  The records at issue were submitted for in camera inspection on April 9, 1992.  A total of fifteen pages of documents have been submitted for review.  The documents have been designated as items 92-67-1 through 92-67-15, respectively.

 

                After consideration of the entire record, the following facts are found and conclusions of law are reached:

 

                1.  By letter of complaint filed with this Commission on February 25, 1992, the complainant alleged that the WEAIC was denying members of the public access to its meetings.  In her complaint, the complainant also requested access to any documents generated by the WEAIC, including minutes of its meetings, study materials and reports.

 

                2.  The WEAIC admits that it has held meetings, and that there are documents governing its operation, as well as reports, recommendations or proposals that have been developed by the WEAIC.  However, the WEAIC contends that neither its meetings nor its records are subject to the open records or open meetings provisions of Connecticut's Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA").

 

Docket #FIC 92-67                                       Page 2

 

                3.  The Commission take administrative notice of its Final Decisions in contested case docket #s FIC 89-320 and FIC 89-356, and Advisory Opinion #43.

 

                4.  Section 10-153d(b), G.S., requires local or regional boards of education to negotiate with the designated representatives for teachers and others, concerning "salaries, hours and other conditions of employment...."

 

                5.  It is found that the Windsor Education Association ("WEA"), is a labor organization created by teachers to represent its member teachers in collective bargaining, and to promote the welfare of children and the quality of education in Windsor.

 

                6.  It is found that the WEA and the Board were engaged in collective bargaining negotiations until approximately January of 1992.

 

                7.  It is found that prior to the conclusion of those negotiations, the WEA and the Board agreed to create a study committee to review "cost effective insurance provisions in view of the mutual concern over the escalating cost of insurance."

 

                8.  It is found that the WEAIC is the study committee that was formed, and its task is to outline and discuss a methodology for discussion of insurance coverage, a mandatory subject of collective bargaining.

 

                9.  Specifically, the WEAIC was created to develop proposals the WEA and the Board will negotiate over in their next round of collective bargaining scheduled to commence October 2, 1992.

 

                10.  It is found that the respondent committee is composed of two WEA members and two Board members.

 

                11.  It is found that there is a provision in the agreement that created the WEAIC for the appointment of a fifth person to the committee.

 

                12.  It is found that the agreement requires both the WEA and the Board to mutually agree upon the fifth member appointed to the WEAIC.

 

                13.  The Commission takes administrative notice of the Connecticut Supreme Court's decision in Elections Review Committee of the Eighth Utilities District v. FOIC, 219 Conn. 685, 687 (1991), wherein the Court concluded that the legislature intended the term committee to "... encompass only a committee that is a subunit of the public agency that established it ...."

 

Docket #FIC 92-67                                       Page 3

 

                14.  It is found that presently, neither the WEA nor the Board is a majority on the WEAIC.

 

                15.  It is found that although the WEAIC was created in part by the Board, all of the WEAIC members are not members of the respondent Board.

 

                16.  Consequently, it is concluded that under Elections Review Committee of the Eighth Utilities District v. FOIC, the WEAIC is not a subunit of the respondent Board, and therefore not a public agency within the meaning of 1-18a(a), G.S.

 

                17.  It is therefore concluded that the Commission lacks jurisdiction over this complaint because the WEAIC's meetings and records are not subject to the public access provisions of the FOIA.

 

                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 August 12, 1992.

 

                                                                             

                                                Debra L. Rembowski

                                                Acting Clerk of the Commission

 

Docket #FIC 92-67                                       Page 4

 

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:

Cynthia C. Sniezak

155 Fieldstone Drive

Windsor, CT 06095

 

Windsor Education Association Insurance Committee

c/o Attorney William Dolan

21 Oak Street

Suite 500

Hartford, CT o6106

 

                                                                             

                                                Debra L. Rembowski

                                                Acting Clerk of the Commission