A Seymour Police Union attorney has filed a Freedom of Information complaint against three police commissioners for allegedly holding an illegal meeting to discuss Sgt. Ronald Goodmaster.
Attorney Richard Gudis claims in the complaint that commissioners Stephen Chucta, Frank Conroy and Lucy McConologue held a non-public meeting May 25 to talk about discipline for Goodmaster, who was later demoted from detective-sergeant to sergeant.
At a Police Commission meeting on June 6, Chucta, Conroy and McConologue voted in favor of demoting Goodmaster. Commissioners Howard Simpson and James Simpson voted against the measure.
The FOI complaint asks the Freedom of Information Commission to render the demotion null and void.
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Seymour Police Commission Illegal Meeting Complaint
Background
The Board of Police Commissioners held a hearing on May 24 to discuss Goodmaster and an internal affairs investigation that found Goodmaster failed to share information he allegedly knew about a wanted fugitive living in Seymour. The commission voted to continue the hearing until June 6.
The alleged illegal meeting happened on May 25, at the town’s senior center.
McConologue, the senior center’s director, has said the subject of that meeting was the senior center’s annual picnic.
Conroy is a member of the Seymour Land Conservation Trust’s board of directors. The picnic is to be held on land trust property, McConologue said.
But rumors circulated that instead, they talked about Goodmaster, and that the “issue was a done deal,” Gudis claims in the complaint.
“The timing of the three commissioners all being together the day after the May 24 , 2011 hearing is suspect,” Gudis wrote in the complaint.
“Shortly aft the May 25 meeting, rumors began to circulate throughout the police department that the Goodmaster issue was a ‘done deal and that he was looking a a demotion,’” Gudis wrote.
He attributed the rumors to Commissioner Conroy.
Gudis has also said he will seek a grievance with the state Board of Mediation and Arbitration, but it could not be determined Monday if that had been filed.
Gudis did not return a telephone call seeking further comment on the case.
Calls for comment were left with Chucta, Conroy and McConologue.
Thomas Hennick, FOI Commission spokesman, said the complaint will be reviewed in the near future. The department has to make sure it has jurisdiction to act in this case before moving forward, Hennick said.
A message seeking comment was left with Lt. Paul Satkowski, who conducted the internal affairs investigation into Goodmaster.
The Valley Independent Sentinel filed a Freedom of Information request on June 17, asking for a copy of the investigation report. The police department has not yet provided the document.
