A hearing officer for the state’s Freedom of Information Commission has recommended that a complaint against three Seymour police commissioners be dismissed.
FOI Attorney Tracie Brown said that while the three commissioners’ testimony was not credible, there was no evidence to prove that they held an illegal meeting, as alleged in the complaint.
The recommended action will be voted on by the full Freedom of Information Commission at a hearing on April 11 in Hartford.
Seymour Detective Ron Goodmaster and the Seymour Police Union filed the complaint against the commissioners in June.
The complaint claims that commissioners Steve Chucta, Frank Conroy and Lucy McConologue held an illegal meeting to talk about Goodmaster, who was later demoted from detective-sergeant to detective.
The three commissioners, and other witnesses, testified during an FOI hearing in January.
Brown, in her decision, said the testimony didn’t include any evidence that the commissioners talked about Goodmaster during a gathering at the Seymour Senior Center on May 25.
“Consequently, this commission cannot conclude that the respondent violated the FOI Act as alleged by the complainants,” Brown wrote in her opinion.
Background
Goodmaster was in hot water with the department in May.
The day before the May 25 get-together of the three commissioners, the full Board of Police Commissioners started reviewing an internal police department investigation about Goodmaster. The investigation found Goodmaster wrongly withheld information about a fugitive living in Seymour.
On June 16, the police commission voted to demote Goodmaster from detective sergeant to detective.
Goodmaster’s FOI complaint claims that the decision was actually made behind closed doors on May 25. The three members who allegedly met on May 25 were the three who voted to demote Goodmaster on June 16. Two other members of the board opposed the demotion.
The Decision
Brown, in her draft decision, said the story the three commissioners told at a June 6 meeting of Board of Police Commissioners did not match up with the testimony they gave in January. Brown was able to determine the commissioners’ statements from June 6 from recordings of the meeting.
“Their account at the January 10, 2012 hearing was significantly different than their account at the June 6, 2011 special meeting,” Brown wrote. “It is found that the testimony of the three members of the respondent commission was not credible.”
In June, the commissioners said McConologue called Conroy to her office, and they talked for about an hour about a senior picnic.
In January, the commissioners testified that they only happened to stop in the office, and only talked for about 10 minutes.
The full draft decision is posted below.
Past Articles About Goodmaster
Seymour Panel Votes To Demote Goodmaster
State Panel Probes Alleged Seymour Police Commission Meeting
Seymour Probes Detective Sergeant Goodmaster
Seymour Police Union Files FOI Complaint Against Police Commissioners
